Removing large bolts

[Matty F]

I have eight bolts that need removing. They are tapered and about an inch in diameter and eight inches long. There's a nut on the other end that does unscrew. There's not enough room to hit the end with a sledgehammer, or enough room for a hydraulic jack. They are bolted through a few tons of steel so I can't heat them up.

I propose making some kind of puller (or actually a pusher). Last time I did that on a different job it worked. I used a 9/8 inch UNF bolt and screwed it up with with a three foot pipe extension while hitting the end with a large sledgehammer. Hydraulic pullers are no good because you can't hit them with a sledgehammer.

Any brilliant ideas before I try to make a puller? I've seen nothing big enough so far. A large G clamp would work if it can exert a few tons pressure, but I reckon that would bend it.

[Andy Dingley]

Unscrew them, push them out with finger pressure. If they won't come out that way, it's because they're stuck with something. This something may be removable by electrolytic de-rusting for a week. No- one needs to hit anything.

Pull or push, but if you push (which is bad) use a constant hydraulic push rather than an impact, otherwise you risk belling them out and riveting the bastards in place for good (which is very bad).

I would consider pulling them, using a hydraulic puller and some lashed-up jig to hold them. This usually involves little more than four big 3/8" plate L straps bolted to the frames (whatever the bolts are in). These are worth making well and keeping for the future. Then some grappling hook around the bolt head - washer over a ladder frame, if you have a threaded head, otherwise a pin through a drilled hole. If you don't have a hydraulic puller, get one. If your local industries aren't collapsing to fill the S/H tool auctions like ours are, hire one.

I might also heat them. Oxy on the ends will do the job, even if they're bolted into a couple of tons. If they're in a heatsink, use oxy-propane or oxy-acetylene and a nice hot flame, not a cheaper air- propane torch that's more powerful but not as hot.

I might also consider drilling their middles out. This makes them into flexible tubes which you can apply a bit of pull to, then tap sideways and they often ping loose. By "ping" I mean something of the trouser- soilingly loud variety of "ecky-ping-thump", not one of those mincing, dinner party sort of pings, like the parlourmaid farted on the silverware.

[Matty F]

The bolts have been in place for 120 years with water running over them. I suspect there may be a teeny bit of corrosion.

Last time I used a home-made puller, it worked when I hit the end of the puller with a very large sledgehammer, then tightened and hit again etc. We have a hydraulic puller but it's just too wimpy and it can't be hit. I'll make a puller with a very fine thread and use a brass disk between the puller and the bolt so the steel doesn't weld itself together. I was thinking of using 2 inch steel plate for the main end of my puller, and half inch dia bolts to reach the other side of the bolts being removed.

I think everything else has been tried e.g. heating, and everybody else has given up. There's no room to put a drill in there (about 4 inches), and drilling out a one inch bolt with a portable drill would not be easy. The heads of the bolts are just hex and nothing to grab hold of.

[Gib Bogle]

Perhaps you could weld to the head something that would enable you to apply high-leverage pulling with a big bar. You could weld a big thick washer, for example, one with a hole big enough for the bar (I'm assuming you'd have a face to lever against). If not a washer, a steel loop could be fabricated. With some system for holding and maintaining load (not hands!) you could bash the bar with a sledge for added effect.

Can you turn the bolts? That should help.

[Matty F]

Yes that's another idea if all else fails. I am puzzled why the bolt won't just hit out from the threaded end. It is tapered after all.

I have not tried but I'm sure others have. I will take my big spanners and try tomorrow.

[Gib Bogle]

I bought on sale very cheap from Mitre10 a sort of self-tightening spanner. The jaws are serrated, and when you apply force they grip more tightly. In theory. This one might handle such a head size, but would need a big tube to extend the handle. It might break, of course.

[Gib Bogle]

In case you're interested, the tool I have is a Solsons Wrench Spanner, A/F

15-41 mm. I've only used it once, so I don't really know how effective it is.

[Matty F]

I have a selection of 100 year old solid steel spanners. Surely one of those will fit.I probably need one around 40mm. But first, the puller/ pusher.

[Frank Erskine]

Angle grinder.

[dom]

How about grabbing the exposed thread part of the bolt/stud with a very large stilson, and hitting the end of the stilson - in an attempt to get them to rotate in situ, and break the corrosion holding them in place?

Or do the bolts already rotate, but just not slip out?

[Matty F]

I doubt very much that the bolts rotate at all. What has been tried and failed is hitting the end of the bolt through a long rod. That has to be hit at an angle because there is no room to swing a hammer. Also tried is a hydraulic jack to force the joint apart. That isn't working because it's trying to remove four bolts at once. I reckon my humungous puller and sledgehammer on one bolt at a time will work. Othewise I'll consider other options.

[The Medway Handyman]

WD40 should sort that out :-)

[Matty F]

We buy it in 5 litre bottles.

[The Medway Handyman]

Good man!

[Cicero]

If you make your pull/push tool with a piece of tube to fit over the heads of the bolts you might be able to gain enough space to get an hydraulic jack to do the work. I made such a tool to remove the stub axles on my car. I used a short length of scaffold tube in my puller but you might need something with greater internal diameter.

As usual a picture would help to show what the access is like.

I assume that you're already aware of making a circular dam from plasticine around the bold ends to make a pool of WD40, although it depends for success on being horizontal.

Cic.

[Matty F]

Here's a picture. I'll have a photo tomorrow.

Good idea. The bolt is horizontal. It's attached to something that weighs 30tons, so it can;'t be tilted.

[Cicero]

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Nice drawing.

I assume that your drawing is not to scale otherwise the bolts won't be completely removable because of the 'big thing' on the right.

If the big thing on the left is strong enough is there any possibility of using a strong lever against it and the threaded end of your bolts? The kind of thing I would consider is a long round bar about 1.5" diameter used for breaking concrete, or even a suitably sized length of strong box section steel.

Cic.

[Matty F]

Yes I considered that. I'll take my crowbar tomorrow. I can make more bolts if they get damaged, but I'll protect them somehow.

[dom]

way and the tip of the bolt?

[Cicero]

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Just another thought; if the big thing is strong enough to withstand a bit of hammering you could use a steel wedge hammered in between the bolt and the big thing. If you haven't got a wedge an old axe head would do with a couple of steel plates to fill up the gaps. You might also need a couple of extra arms/hands to get things into position.

Cic.