[IronStomach]

What's the best bet for getting a stripped and seized bellhousing bolt out? Tried the PB Blaster last night, but that thing is getting close to round now. Weak sauce bolt heads FTL.

[Kemp"Da_Chit"08GT]

Is the motor in the car? Which bolt location is it?

[07 STROKER]

blast the head off with a torch, then get some vice grips on the bolt shaft once the tranny is apart from the motor

[IronStomach]

Yeah, everything's in and operational, it's the bolt to install the CHE torque limiter on the passenger side, faces the rear of the vehicle, about 3" in front of the passenger side oxygen sensor.

I'm pretty sure I can remove it with enough PB Blaster and a socket remover, but I don't want to do anything I shouldn't to the bellhousing by mistake.

[07 STROKER]

nevermind my reply then LOL

[IronStomach]

Originally Posted by 07 procharger blast the head off with a torch, then get some vice grips on the bolt shaft once the tranny is apart from the motor

Awesome, I'll keep that in mind when I upgrade to a 6 speed next year. Prolly a little overkill for a stupid torque limiter right now though.

[IronStomach]

Originally Posted by 07 procharger nevermind my reply then LOL

Heh, no I appreciat it, and seeing how seized up these damn things are I'm pretty sure I'll need to do that when I get to the fun stuff over the winter.

[07 STROKER]

its wierd though...mines an 07 and all of mine came out with no problems.

[IronStomach]

Originally Posted by 07 procharger its wierd though...mines an 07 and all of mine came out with no problems.

Not weird, mine's a daily driver through two winters. Damn though, the corrosion breaks my heart every time I get underneath the thing.



Do I have any risk of cracking the housing if I try to force a seized bolt out?

[NastyFX4]

Originally Posted by 07 procharger nevermind my reply then LOL

[Emay]

no worries in troying to get it out Efyl.. A trick I use for those things on the DD's that come by me, I do a slight tighten first before backing out (even a slight 16th of an inch helps). Knock on wood I haven't had one get stuck, but I did on my own car long ago, which made me use this technique on the regular now.. Especially when I get under there and see lots of salt corrosion. Better safe than sorry.

[IronStomach]

Originally Posted by Emay no worries in troying to get it out Efyl.. A trick I use for those things on the DD's that come by me, I do a slight tighten first before backing out (even a slight 16th of an inch helps). Knock on wood I haven't had one get stuck, but I did on my own car long ago, which made me use this technique on the regular now.. Especially when I get under there and see lots of salt corrosion. Better safe than sorry.

Thanks, Emay, that's a good idea - hopefully I'll have more luck with the bolt tomorrow afternoon than I did last night!

[UrbanRedneck]

I agree with Emay. I do that for anything that might be stuck, especially brake bleeders, banjo bolts, etc. That way you will be putting the load on the part that you aven't rounded yet, and you will break the corrosion free.

ANother thing, what size socket are you using? I know that is a dumb question but I have to ask because WAYYYY to many people think that they will use SAE sockets on our cars, I guess many people don't realise that even American companies adopted metric long ago, and about the only SAE bolt you will find on any Ford after the mid 90s is the oil drain plug, but a 16mm works great. Seeing as it is a Ford, it will most likely be either a 13 or a 15.

Now if you cannot get a good grip on it with a wrench because it is rounded, you can try a large pair of vice grips that has sharp teeth. But really, unless the bolt is real rusty you should never round it (the right size socket will break it before rounding it). You could also try a pipe wrench, but good luck getting that on a small bolt. Last resort if vice grips don't work (I have other methods that I wouldn't do to a bolt that is threaded into aluminum, like hammering and torching) is to get a nut that fits over the bolt head and weld it to the bolt, that gives you a new surface to wrench on, but obviously only if you have a welder.

You could also try bolt extractor sockets, they work pretty well unless the bolt is ungodly siezed. You should be able to get them at sears, they are sockets where the inside has sharp flutes that look like some kind of midevil torture device. They dig into the bolt as you turn.

[IronStomach]

Thanks for the advice, Urban. I've got some bolt extractors like you described I bought just for this from Harbour Freight, it's a 13mm bolt, already got the one I need off on the driver's side without a problem. Unfortunately I did already mostly round it when I was too lazy to get out from under the car and get some anti-seize spray. Stupid bit of laziness and I learned from that one.

[qwik48r]

if all else fails, heat with an oxy and turn the head with a sharp chisel.