[TowerTalk] heavily rusted anchor bolt/nut

[George Dubovsky]

Good morning, Doug,

Heat the nut with a torch - you really can't get it too hot - and throw
some penetrant on the threads while it's hot. Try to wiggle it when it's
hot. If no movement, try a couple cycles of the heating/cooling/Kroil, PB
Blaster, Liquid Wrench, etc. If it still won't move, cut it off with a
sawzall, chisel, oxy/gas torch. I presume you won't be needing that
particular nut again... ;-)

73,

geo - n4ua


On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 6:56 AM, <kr2q at optimum.net> wrote:

> Hi...
>
> I am changing out the T-Bar base on my TX472.
>
> [You may recall, my old TX472 was bent at the base of the tower during
> H.Sandy.  The replacement tower has arrived]
>
> I tried using my wrench to undo the 3 nuts (on 3 anchor bolts), but I
> wasn't able to budge them.
>
> Then I slid a six foot long, 2" OD mast over the end of the wrench and for
> two of them (barely rusted), they easily turned.
>
> But one of the anchor bolts (1.125" diameter) the associated nut is
> heavily rusted, as is the bolt.  Over the weekend, I applied Naval Rust
> Dissolver Gel which sort of worked.  At least enough to demonstrate that
> the threads are still in tact.  I also showered it with Liquid Wrench
> (several times).
>
> But even with the 6 foot long lever arm and "cautious" pressure, I was not
> able to budge the nut.
>
> I know that when nuts have "frozen" before on much smaller bolts (5/16" or
> 3/8"), I have been able to (unfortunately) break the bolt instead of
> loosing the nut while applying "lots" of rotational torque on the nut.
>  While a 1.125" diameter bolt seems pretty hefty, I am concerned about
> doing the same (yeah, sounds ridiculous)..and then I"ll really be out of
> luck.
>
> Any suggestions on how to proceed?
>
> Thanks,
> de Doug KR2Q
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