Best screw head that won't strip

[Markem]

Heat and then cool with WD40

[Leon]

LOL. Yes your reference is certainly an impact driver and it does, with a blow of a hammer, exert a forward and a twisting force to loosen or tighten a screw.

Below is probably the other style being talked about that most of today's wood workers are more familiar with. And these too do a good good at removing compromised screw heads. I remodeled a kitchen some years back and the owners thought it would be a good idea to fill the screw heads with a hard wood putty. My Makita impact worked very well with getting the screws out despite the fact that the heads were filled.

[Leon]

3 blades? Do they all turn in the same direction? If any spin in the opposite direction the bolt will also for loosening or tightening.''Look at how the belts wind around the pulleys.

[Leon]

Should have mentioned that If a blade turns in an opposite direction the bolt will loosen in the same opposite direction. Retaining bolts and nuts loosen in the same direction that the object spins with few exceptions. Automotive wheels being an exception unless you look at some old Chrysler products.

[Puckdropper]

JAS wrote in news:lrmqq7$d71$ [e-mail]:

Sometimes the best option is to give up. If the blade isn't bent or otherwise damaged, it may have to be treated as a permanent part of the mower.

Puckdropper

[JAS]

Same direction.

[JAS]

The blade is worn and chipped on the ends as she said she hit a rock.

[Puckdropper]

JAS wrote in news:lro3kv$h51$ [e-mail]:

If you get the blade to move independent of the spindle assembly, it might just loosen things up enough to remove it. A couple ideas come to mind, but are more or less "go for broke" ideas.

The first is to hit the blade with a hammer out near the end. Repeated blows in the loosen direction might be enough to free things up. Chances are, though, the spindle will want move. This could be dangerous, especially if the mower has been lifted.

Another is to attach the blade to a lever. I once used carriage bolts drilled through a 2x4 to make a rebar bender, and something similar may work here. The minimum is two carriage bolts, one on either side of the blade, but a third one with a large washer to clamp the lever to the blade will probably be easier to use. (I find when working under my mower the hardest part is keeping the tool in place against gravity.) This will probably have the same spindle movement problem of the first idea.

Have you priced out replacement spindles?

Puckdropper

[clare]

Heat the head of the bolt red hot, and smack it good with a hammer. Heat it red hot again and quench it with lots of cold water. Then use a "stripped head bolt remover" socket. If that doesn'r work have someone arc weld a big nut on the end of the bolt (weld to the head through the threaded hole of the big nut) and spin it off with the impact.

[clare]

Water often works every bit as well as the penetrant. Quenching with water shocks the rust criystals and makes them real fine - and water mixed with the ultrafine rust actually acts as a lubricant. Oil based penetrants have a tendancy to just boil off or burn when you squirt them on something red hot, and water removes more heat faster.

[clare]

Heat then quench with garden hose.

[clare]

And old Oldsmobiles, and old Hudsons, and some old British cars, and

--------

[JAS]

Will try the heat and hitting the blade also==I do have a problem holding the tools up wile lying under the mower as I have had shoulder surgery and do not have much strength there. If that dose not work I will have her take it to a repair shop and get a nut welded on and have them work on it. I doubt if a replacement spindle is available as it is a 50's or 60's model. JAS

[Lew Hodgett]

--------------------------------------------- Kroil and lots of patience.

Lew

[John Grossbohlin]

My gut reaction, after hearing what you tried, is to weld or perhaps braze, either a nut, or the head end of a bolt, to the mangled bolt and use a wrench on it. Alternatively, weld a length of black pipe, angle iron, etc. to the bolt head and use it as the "wrench." In the later case if you cut out the side of the end of the "wrench" so it fits over the nut you can tack it on two sides and maybe the top of the damaged bolt head... longer is better!

John

[clare]

I feel your pain -Had shoulder surgery a few years back - it's better than before the surgery, but still not 100% - gatta watch what I do and how. As for getting parts - I had to make a new spindle shaft for my 24" mower - about the same age. Lathe comes in handy once in a while!!

[clare]

On mine I was tearing it down to replace the bearings - which were shot and had worn a deep groove in the shaft.

But definitely a safer and easier job with the deck upside-down on the work bench!!!

[clare]

He needs to get a decent head on the bolt first if he is going to use an impact. A "grip-tite" socket will grab a worn bolt head, but will grenade itself if used on a good impact gun (likely on a rotten impact too)

[clare]

One question. Is the spindle boted to the top of the deck or the bottom? If bolted to the bottom, remove the bulley, unbolt the assembly from the deck and drop it out - and work on it at the workbench, or take the spindle and blade to the shop to have the munged bolt removed.

[Morgans]

I see people recommending to heat to red hot then quench with water or thin oils, and it makes me cringe a little bit. There are real chances that the metallurgy of the nut or bolt is going to be significantly changed, and brittle to the point that it snaps off.

If the goal is to break a nut off, and it is replaceable (not left handed or something) go for it I guess. I myself would not want to heat up a part that was going to be used again past straw temperature, which is barely showing any dull orange at all. If breaking the nut was a reasonable option, I would just use a mechanical nut buster and be done with it if impact wrenches and granny helper bars did not do the trick.

By the way, has it been confirmed that the nut that will not come off is not a left handed nut? If there are three blades, it is most likely that at least one (the middle blade) is a left handed nut.