Penetrating fluid

[Ivan49]

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]

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:.

 

[PROFarms]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[uncleroger]

Kroil is great, we use it on steam locomotives! Deep creep is said to be good as well

 

[Mace Canute]

Another good commercial penetrating oil is the Toyota brand penetrating oil. The smell reminds me of the old General Motors heat riser valve penetrant and lubricant.

 

[angustrees]

On my tractor I just bought in trying to take a few bits and pieces off to paint up and there's some pins which are well and truly rusted solid and can't get them out to take off the rear lift arms. I've tried levering them, tried hitting them, tried to hear it up to get off and someone suggested I use some sort of penetrating fluid to free it up and I was wondering what the best this to use is?

I heard that acetone mixed with automatic transmission fluid is pretty good and wd40 is useless?

Any help would be much appreciated as I don't want to break anything forcing it too hard.

I got turned to Kroil about a year ago and have not found in my 75 years anything to compare it to. This stuff works, just give it a little time!

 

[barrja]

Napa sells a freeze spray that works well it shrinks the part and breaks the rust.
I also use the acetone and atf for severe rust soak a rag and rap the part

 

[Garson]

On my tractor I just bought in trying to take a few bits and pieces off to paint up and there's some pins which are well and truly rusted solid and can't get them out to take off the rear lift arms. I've tried levering them, tried hitting them, tried to hear it up to get off and someone suggested I use some sort of penetrating fluid to free it up and I was wondering what the best this to use is?

I heard that acetone mixed with automatic transmission fluid is pretty good and wd40 is useless?

Any help would be much appreciated as I don't want to break anything forcing it too hard.

=============================================

Machinist's Workshop magazine tested penetrates for break-out
torque on rusted nuts. They arranged a subjective test of all the popular
penetrates with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a
"scientifically rusted" environment.

*Penetrating Oil and Average Load*

Nothing..... ......... ....... 516 pounds

WD-40....... ......... ....... 238 pounds

PB Blaster..... ......... .. 214 pounds

Liquid Wrench...... ... 127 pounds

Kano Kroil....... ........ 106 pounds

ATF-Acetone mix..... 53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix was a "home brew" mix of 50-50 automatic transmission
fluid and acetone. Note the "home brew" was better than any commercial
product in this one particular test. Note also that "Liquid Wrench" is about as
good as "Kroil" for about 20% of the price.
-------
I tested the acetone, transmission fluid mix on 50 year old one inch rusted bolts. The nuts twisted off like a miracle.

 

[Mark 42]

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.

Be careful about banging hammers together - I've never had it happen, but heard that they can chip because they
are hardened (wear safety glasses). If you have a big piece of scrap metal to put against the pin and beat on.
it may be safer. An air chisel or wrecking hammer (small jackhammer) with a blunt tip is probably best.
Either way, what you want is vibrations, so hitting it with a hammer with rapid blows may work better
than just hitting it hard.

 

[Cameron Smith]

When you finally get it apart and go to re-assemble it, give everything a good coating of never-seize compound (about any brand; I use the original) because the next poor SOB that has to take it apart might be YOU!

 

[Marauderer]

You were correct with the 50/50 acetone and ATF mixture. put it in a spry bottle and it is the best hands down.

 

[the old grind]

I use Gibbs on the guns when not wanting the stink or hazards of Kroil or ATF/acetone (on stock finish, etc) or able to use heat. Gibbs Brand I'd rank it with Kroil for effectiveness, and it's great for cleaning up locks or freeing stuck nipples on sidelock MLs and on alum. IMO paraffin (canning wax) works about as good as bee's wax for heat & wick use. U-joint or ball-joint presses beat c-clamps for pressing and are more compact.

I agree that heating doesn't require hot disassembly every time. Having press tension or using air hammer helps there during or after heating cycle. Several hot/cool cycles often allow penetrants or wax to work in better once cooled. Have used a burp gun (HD, <200 cycles/min) to remove bucket pins that weren't stuck, just rusty, when no helper was available to take side-tension off 'em.