Dealing w/Rusty Bolts

I just thought It would be interesting to hear what others use for dealing with rusty bolts on older Jeeps, especially those that are driven in the rust belt of the northeast. Up here in Ontario, Canada where I live in a snow belt from Lake Huron, the winters are with us for about 5 months every year, which brings salted, sanded, and icy/snowy roadways. These conditions play havoc with the chassis of vehicles, even if they are treated, kept clean and otherwise maintained.
On my 10 year old JK, I take a multi pronged approach and I have been able to save most of the OEM fasteners but some, in the end, either break off or have to be cut off.
Here’s what I do in escalating order of persuasion: (1) clean off the exposed threads with a wire wheel on a drill, (2) soak the threads overnight with Sea Foam “Deep Creep”, (3) heat the nut, (4) back the nut/bolt out by hand slowly, chasing the threads as I attempt to take it out in one piece, keeping everything well soaked in Deep Creep.
Once everything is apart, I renovate each fastener with a thread chaser kit I have, and most of the nuts/bolts can be saved and reused. I try to stick with OEM nuts/bolts, if they need replacing, but sometimes the cost can be prohibitive for a daily driver.

 

Dealing with rusty bolts from the annual salt/brine baths can definitely ruin ones day. On my 2004 SUV lift kit project this past year I had 4 semi-critical weld nut breaks out of 50 others that wasted a bunch of time and required some ingenuity to figure out a resolution. I've done most of the steps you mentioned and depending upon the size of the fastener minimize impact gun usage, loosen a bit and tighten a bit and wait for the lubricant to enter the rusted crusted threads. One thing I used after successful removal of a bolt was some anti-seize. The manuals do not recommend it but I'd rather not have a broken weld nut the next time the bolt needs removal.

 

One of my nightmare shots of a semi-critical broken large weld nut in the unibody frame that required extrication and replacement

 

Yeah, @aggrex i have to confess that I use anti seize where it isn’t recommended as well. I just keep an eye on those places in case something comes loose but I’ve never had a problem. I agree, after messing with a rusted fastener, I want to avoid that if I ever need to take the part off again.
One problem area on Jeeps, is the captive nuts holding the top rear shock flange mounts in place. By the time your shocks need replacement, these can be pretty rusty, and hard to get to. Breaking a bolt off up there is going to be painful. I spent a lot of time removing these to avoid that pain, and luckily it paid off. That’s just one example of many. You can be assured these went back on with anti seize!

 

I can feel the pain just looking at that photo, after all the old vehicles I’ve worked on over the years, lol.

 

Thanks....those $#%@ weld nuts (3 out of 4) secure two separate subframe stiffeners and all 4 weld nuts reside within the dual wall lower radiator support that got rusty over time from a leaky radiator. When the weld nuts broke loose the subframe stiffener and bolts spins freely along with the weld nuts. Cutting the M10 bolt with a sawzall with one hand and holding the bolt with the other hand+wrench upside down was not fun. Drilling a hole through the dual wall radiator support slightly larger than the weld nut was the only way to extricate the weld nut/bolt combo. Stainless steel fasteners were used whenever wherever possible therafter. Mission accomplished

 

I also use stainless fasteners were possible and also anti seize and fluid film

 

“Deep Creep”,

 

Here’s a new technique I learned from a mechanic who does pro restoration work. After you’ve heated a nut, instead of using penetrating oil on it, which will only evaporate anyway, use a paraffin candle. The candle wax won’t volatilize as readily as a thin lubricant will, and it serves the same purpose in coating the seized threads while you release the fastener from its rusty grip. I haven’t had occasion to try it yet, but an added bonus is not having to breath a cancerous plume of penetrating oil which isn’t going to do much to the threads anyway.