The engine bolt is stuck dead , there's no springiness at all .Last night I left the right side where the bolt screws into soaking in penetrating fluid overnight but it doesn't seem to have made any difference the bolt is still stuck . A friend came round yesterdayafternoon ( he works on Agas so knows about rusty bolt problems ) and tried applying much more force than I could but nothing moved , then he tried heating the frame gently but still nothing so he then suggested leaving it to soak in fluid . I guess I'll try heating the crankcases on each side as you suggest and see if that works though it is beginning to look like the bleeding thing will need drilling out .
Tried hitting it? A few blunt impacts with a hammer of your choice through the socket/allen bit may break loose any corrosion and/or help any penetrating fluid to find a way in?
Try to heat the thread itself.......depedant on how small a flame you can get....I have a small Clarke gas blowtorch which is great for doing exactly that......without damaging the frame paint.....
Or find some CLP Break Free.............Gun shops should have it............much much better than Plus Gas, which is like soaking something in white spirit. In fact it probably is white spirit, ether and cod liver oil...........at least that's what it smells like to me.... AL
I've tried the impact driver with no luck , I'll borrow a small blowtorch and try heating the thread and while I'm at the gun shop to purchse some CLP I'll ask about a 12 bore . In summary it's all good advice ............... hit it with a hammer , set it on fire and then shoot it .
Without reading back through this, I assume it is the rear frame to engine bolt that is stuck.....?? Which is a nut and bolt, innit? So you can run some oil or whatever along the length of the bolt (it's visible on mine across the back of the gearbox etc)...at least that will get to where the bolt is in the ally casting lug...(ps ffs don't break one of them...)....if you can get CLP, give it a reasonable dose where you can get at the thread etc and leave it 24 hours. I was once asked if I could strip a very rusty WW2 item that had been in a pond probably since the end of the war.....screws were rusted solid.....CLP had them virtually falling out after 48 hours. Can you get a short steel box spanner into the frame socket so it isn't tight in the frame, but so it just fits the nut? If so direct the flame down there......could be something like the wrong Loctite on the thread...some of them need 200 degrees to get the stuff to give. Then get a mate on one end and you on the other end....with some long bars (after you have pulled the box spanner off with pliers!!) AL.
No Al, the rear bolt is an allen headed bolt that goes through the engine from the nearside and the offside is threaded into the frame........so you have to loosen the thread on the offside and undo it from the nearside.......
Oh well.....still, same principle with the box spanner to keep the heat off the outside of the frame......and then a scaffold pole on the socket bar...
Try a 1/2 drive electric impact wrench/drive, I have one which i use for work and shhhh! You could try and hire one and it will shift the bolt. Mines never failed me or any bolt/nut on a ducati. Clarke CEW1000 Electric Impact Wrench - Machine Mart
re; 'springy' or 'dead' when you try to undo it - so bolt is binding immediately it enters the frame/crankcase. As said already - crankcase 'warming' usually works as this acts immediately on the bit that needs to expand (and is most likely where it's binding due to electrolysis). If you reckon you can apply enough heat end-on to the bolt enough to get things smoking then it's worth a try but I could never do it without it turning into scorchio time.. EDIT As Imola says - if you have access to an impact wrench it's worth a go alternating undo/do up and carefully noting end of bolt to see if it is moving at all.
No need to heat the cases, that rear bolt Chris, is threaded in the frame...hence the earlier concern about frame paint being compromised....
:wink: ....all this fun and you haven't even tried to get the barrel off or the broken stud out of the cases yet! Who was it even tried pulling a barrel from an engine with a JCB once because of corrosion on the studs?
You should see the hole in the workshop wall from when the barrel finally came off........... Would be bl**dy nervous with 'him' in charge of the Artillery....:wink: AL.
understood Dave - but if it's not 'springy' or winding up when you try and undo it, it can mean that it's binding 'closer to the action' i.e. - not the far/other side. I know you must have stripped more than me, but I found corrosion in the cases to be the culprit more times than the thread corroded in the frame - not you also?
Aye - Steel bolts in steel threads are usually not too stubborn .... but steel bolts in ali/alloy holes can be a nightmare .... not helping am I ? ....I'll shut up !
Have you tried TIGHTENING the bolt? Bizarre, but in a lot of cases will crack the bolt free, allowing you to undo it? Get an allen socket in there with a breaker bar, if the allen head rounds out them smack a Torx bit in there.
this a really good case for that very approach as it may be possible to start 'winding up' the bolt as well as 'unwinding' it before it starts to think about giving in and starting to undo (as opposed to unwinding along it's shank..)
That is true Chris, remember my " Barrel removal" thread on the other site ? That was corrosion in the tube surrounding the cylinder stud......
It was none other than myself Littlebert......and the JCB didnt do the job either, had to get an angle grinder to the barrel.......
