I am trying to remove bolts holding the driveshaft on a 1992 ford explorer 4x4. Are these bolts welded?

Question

I bought a replacement at a salvage yard, now I have to remove the old one. In doing so, I have to break four bolts on the front and rear. I am using a 12 mm box end and have been hitting it with a hammer and getting nowhere. Will I have to drill these bolts out? I have used ratchet set same result.

Answer 1

They shouldn't be welded (otherwise it would just be a weld, and not a bolt), but they do tend to rust up a little and are usually hard to remove. Try some penetrating oil, and let it sit for a while before trying again. Then try hitting the bolt (not too hard!) with a hammer to jar it loose while applying force with the wrench. Hitting the wrench usually doesn't help much - the springiness of the metal soaks up too much of the shock from the hammer.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Well, the bolts are probably just rusted, though sometimes I also see the washers folded down on one of the flat sides of the bolt to keep them from coming loose when the drive shaft spins.

Some of your other posters suggested heating, impact wrenches, and longer leverage breaker bars which are all effective approaches, as is the idea of soaking the bolts in liquid wrench.

In the end, however, if they still will not move, you can buy a nut splitter at Sears or any good tool store. It has a heavy duty screw driven blade much like a chisel head, and you fit it over the nut with the blade aligned to cut into the bolt vertically, and begin to tighten it with a wrench. Eventually, it will simply split the nut and you can remove it and then remove the bolts. You can do much the same with a hammer and chisel of course, but it is slower, more tedious, and random hammer blows in the confined space under the car lead to a lot of banged up knuckles.

Answer 3

Have you tried an impact wrench? They are not welded. Try an impact if you can gain access to one. WD40 might help, like the other person said... A little bit of heat from a hand held propane torch. Or try tapping the head of the bolt with a hammer, to try and break the rust free.

Answer 4

so i might in all threat get an perspective grinder, decrease it as close as i can to the knuckle so which you do not could beat the threads by using, and then get a superb thick punch and whack the crap out of it with a hammer. Drilling may be an argument because you wont elect to scar up the interior the knuckle. additionally, make confident there's no weight from the motor vehicle on it. What i might do is enhance the motor vehicle so the wheels off the floor throw some jack stands under it, and then placed your jack under your tire and gently carry up on it so it frees up any weight on that bolt. sturdy success!

Answer 5

Soak the bolts with P B Blaster.
It's a penetrant that works better than any other brand.
Let it sit overnight.
Spray it again. Tap the bolt heads with a hammer.

Answer 6

Not sure about the bolts, just take apart the u-joints and slide in the new shaft. Now is a good time to replace the u-joints too.

Answer 7

do you have a "fire wrench" (acetylene torch)?

heat the bolts, they will break loose...

if you don't have a fire wrench, perhaps a air ratchet?

you need more leverage, so if none of these, use a long pipe on the wrench