Thread: The restoration of Wombat

Half an hour after my last post and I have stuff to report, good and annoying.

Heat applied to both bolts, WD40 flooded on.

Went back to the driver's side, gave the end of the bolt a few welts with small sledge. Lo and behold, there's now a gap between the head of the bolt and the washer. Heat it all up again, bash some more... and the bolt's moving. Rate of movement increased until the end of the bolt reached the compression tube. Got another bolt to use as a dolly and a few minutes later, the bolt leaps free of its shackles and lands with a satisfying clank on the floor.

Now to the passenger side. A couple of whacks. Nuffin. Fire up the propane torch, heat it up good and proper. Time to attack. THIS time, I gave the mallet to my son - you know, father/son bonding, get the lad involved. He starts belting away with a passion and I'm thinking - he's hitting it harder than me.
Then I saw it. He'd bent the bolt at some point, not noticed and by keeping on going, the bolt now has quite a bend in it.

Okay, I should have been monitoring him better (he's 22 but has never done anything like this Landy before).

So I got everything good and hot, squirted WD40 everywhere and came inside to sulk

At least I now know I have to cut that bolt off but the question is, when and where?

I'm thinking I'll keep up the heat and oil bit until sat. Each night, I'll give the bolt a few belts in the hope it moves and if so, THEN act.

This is better than watching tele. I'd cut it just before the tube and keep up with the heat/wd40/ hammer treatment. Don't forget to occasionally whack it from the bolt head side. Someone should have invented some kind of sonic rust remover by now that you can leave on 24/7.
cheers,
D

Originally Posted by Dark61

This is better than watching tele.

I'm here to serve

I'd cut it just before the tube and keep up with the heat/wd40/ hammer treatment. Don't forget to occasionally whack it from the bolt head side. Someone should have invented some kind of sonic rust remover by now that you can leave on 24/7.
cheers,
D

Hey, we could set up a KickStarter, it sounds like just the sort of pointless project that'd get heaps of money

I'm tempted not to cut yet because I can still bash and belt and the like and would prefer to be mangling the long end rather than something close to the tube. Do I try to straighten the bolt so I can direct the force better? Or do I bend it near 90 degrees so I can put a long bar on it and twist it?

Have you had any luck trying to turn the bolt in the chassis? Using a socket and a large breaker bar and pipe if you need to to get it to turn. After that, cut the head off the bolt and use a drift to punch it out backwards. If the bolt is now bent it isn't going to come out the right way.

No luck getting it to turn. Wary of using my ratchet handle too because I don't want to blow that up and that's the sort of pressure I'm putting on it.

I'm a little wary about cutting the head off before getting some sort of movement because that stops you being able to twist it, but I take your point about the bend.

I was thinking along the lines of cutting the bolt off flush with the end of the compression tube after getting movement on the grounds that this should leave only straight metal to push through the tube. I'd only cut it AFTER I got it moving to avoid burring over the end which is what I faced on the other side though as it turned out, that wasn't a problem except the drift kept sliding off the now rounded end of that bolt.

Yep, sounds like you're on the same page - get it to move first. Do you have any friends with a large breaker bar, or a 3/4" socket set? Im sure a decent single hex socket - like an impact socket and a good quality 3' breaker bar would get it to move. If you lived closer I'd lend you mine, hopefully you will get it to move soon.

Softly softly catchee monkey. I'd put a cheap spanner on it and a tube over the end of the spanner strong enough not to bend. That way , you don't hurt your socket wrenches. Don't try get it out in one go - just wiggle it up and down each time you apply the heat / wd40/ Hammer. It'll shift eventually.
cheers,
D

I've got some weapons to twist. Tried them tonight with no noticeable success. Will try to remember to include that in the assault as I tend to forget it's an option.

Did get some movement from bashing the end of the bolt (using heat and WD40 of course). Only a little, enough to make a crack between the washer and the compression tube. Knocked it shut again. Opened it up, but it wasn't going anywhere. Considering the bent bolt and that it might be jamming in the end of the tube, I cut the bolt off level with the tube (at the opposite end to the head of the bolt natch). Using a bolt as a drift, I was able to move the bolt, but only a smidge. Hitting the head, I can knock it back in. So I can marginally move it. Much harder doing it this way, holding drift and hitting it, than hitting the end of the bolt and I can't hit as hard (might be a good thing).

Anyways, I didn't achieve much more than marginal movement backwards and forwards. Heated it up again, squirted and came inside to cook dinner.

It will give up eventually - just be nice if it did it sooner rather than later but maybe I'm not patient enough for this restoration game and she's trying to teach me some.