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Old 09-07-2016, 08:13 AM   #15
Bruce B
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 1,274
Quote:
Originally Posted by petdoc4u View Post
Groco strainer lid frozen. Unable to remove with spanner wrench and reasonable muscle. I fear more muscle will tear it out of its mounting. It has been suggested to use a torch to heat it. Because the lid screws INTO the strainer body it seems heat expansion might not be the best course of action.
If anyone has faced this dilema could you please describe in detail how you resolved it. Thank you.
Cheers,
-David
Quote:
Originally Posted by WesK View Post
Correct. Whoever gave you that advice should be avoided the next time you are looking for advice.

There is a product available in auto parts stores that is a combination of penetrating oil and a refrigerant. It will cool (and thus shrink) parts that it is sprayed on. It works as advertised but you have to use more product than you would normally use to get enough cooling to do the job. You might use a third of the can or so.

Between the cooling and the penetrating action, you should find it easier to remove the cover with a wrench without damaging the strainer.
Just an FYI here.

One the tricks I learned early in my career when I worked at a shop that specialized in the restoration of vintage Rolls Royce autos was a method of freeing stuck bolts with heat. Contrary to what one might believe, the preferred method was to heat the bolt/head itself and not the surrounding metal. This caused the bolt to expand in the hole so that once it cooled a bit, out it came.

It works like magic and I've many removed hundreds of bolts this way in my life. I used to love heading out into the shop to help a new employee with a stuck bolt, grab the torches and proceed to pull it out! You can imagine the looks I'd get...

Of course it does not always work and there are times when only a machine shop will do the trick!

By the way, I have been known to use a heat gun for the same result and I wonder if the advice given might have worked if a heat gun was used...

The small hammer trick is a good one and would probably suffice in this case.

Bruce
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