Penetrating fluid

Ivan49 · Jan 22, 2015

PROFarms said:
These are the pins I'm trying to remove. Also there's the sidelink adjuster is stuck which I'm trying to free up and getting the lower arm off if the tractor

Not to be a smart A## but you did loosen the set screws on those

drizler · Jan 23, 2015

lamanated said:
My father is a chemist,, the best stuff is called oil of wintergreen, its the smelly stuff in ben gay, its behind the counter at the drug store. I put some in a syringe and drip it on, and voila,, its nasty smelling though

Glad you reminded me of this. I heard of this a few years back and promptly forget about i:ashamed:t. "Note to self"

Oh another little trick MILK OF MAGNESIA. Use it as a never seize on hot things like exhausts manifold bolts, studs in these areas and Oxygen Sensors. Some guy on a forum said his father had used it on hot sections of B 52 engines years ago in Nam. I guess the USAF approved using it.

As for all the other commercial oils I have noticed that they sure all took quite a leap in price a few years back while at the same time going downhill . When the EPA made them change the propellent and ever since I find it hard to get to the bottom of a can. This used to be the rare incident but these days the exception rather than the rule. I used to use what I could then punch each dead can and dump the rest into a squirt bottle and at any one time I had a couple dead cans, mainly PB Blaster sitting there waiting to get punched,. Anyways living in the rust belt and constantly wrenching on broken stuff I find the homemade stuff works as good and costs near zero. Moreover the Dollar Store squirt bottle puts it where I want and lots of far better than the commercial stuff. They can keep it all, these days I just recycle my old ATF and save some cash:drink:.

drizler · Jan 23, 2015

chim said:
A couple guys at work were having trouble getting a similar thing apart. I grabbed an air chisel and a pointed bit. Placing the point on the end of the pin (and making sure it didn't slip off) hit the trigger and in less than a minute the pin came out. I used the pointed chisel in the center of the pin to avoid peening the end of the pin and making it mushroom/expand.

I have also used ATF & acetone. It worked very well on the bolts holding the muffler on the 1210. It was a rusty mess and I applied the mix multiple times over a period of days before cranking on the bolts. I was surprised it worked because the mix separated almost immediately after shaking the mixture.

Another grand trick like this is take the oldest nasty air chisel bit you have and cut off the tip so it is flat. Then go at it with oils and the air gun. I learned that from a guy who I was helping pull a 2" front end pivot out of his 1985 back how and it was fused into the casting with rust. You couldn't heat it well as the casting just wicked the heat away so we did what we could with it and then the oil and air chisel. It was a HF chisel too and it took the pin loose little by little just hammering around on the exposed end of it. Just do make sure to use ear muffs because you will be at this for a while and keep the penetrating oil coming.
If you don't have a nasty tip you can often use an old valve if you can find one big enough like mine from an O 200 Continental airplane engine. Anything is better than beating on it with a hammer and punch and missing

over and over again as you get tired. Blood blisters do suck.:thumbdown:

PROFarms · Jan 24, 2015

thanks guys. i ended up today having just to cut through the pins and will make some new ones. seemed a shame to do it but i just had to get it off. even trying to press them out with heat and everything suggested i ended up bending both 1" square bits of solid bar and stretching the bolts, wrecking their thread. thanks for all your help. still not managed to get the second lower link arm off of the tractor. still spraying daily with aft and acetone mixture

SandburRanch · Jan 24, 2015

Try pressing a sledge hammer tight against one side and popping the opposite side a sharp blow with another hammer ( like a 3 lb. ). Sometimes this will momentarily distort the cylinder out of round just enough to break the bond. If penetrating juice has been tried first there are no guarantees of this method. Dry works better.

Billrog · Jan 24, 2015

If rusted in to solid I've found a cutting torch to be the answer. After a wk. of sledge hammer, heat, soaking with every kind of penetrating fluid, 20 ton hydraulic jack on a couple of rusted in pins that I could have saved a lot of time with the torch to start with.

ray66v · Jan 25, 2015

Billrog said:
If rusted in to solid I've found a cutting torch to be the answer. After a wk. of sledge hammer, heat, soaking with every kind of penetrating fluid, 20 ton hydraulic jack on a couple of rusted in pins that I could have saved a lot of time with the torch to start with.

Amen. I have no use for penetrating oils, of any kind.

They can be expensive, generally smell bad, and don't work very well, if at all. Especially, if you want to get the job done today.

I am just as productive, as the other guy in our shop who uses it, and I don't go through a can of that junk every few days.

If heat, and or, shock therapy, doesn't get it loose, it probably will never come off.

whitepine2 · Jan 25, 2015

Now that you have tried all of the suggested ways try this. Heat the part cherry red all over then drench
with a bucket of cold water and or a water hose ,this has never failed me even doing very large parts,
usually will come apart by hand Try it you will like it!

drizler · Jan 27, 2015

That gas axe is truly the best if the offending nut is in a place you can use it. How people work on anything in The Rust Belt without one I can't imagine. When I heat my stuff I almost never put the rosebud on, just use the cutting head without hitting the oxy trigger. Cherries it up just as good and saves some time.