I live in Detroit. The snow and salt has resulted in me busting almost every bolt that I have tried to remove. Needless to say, this has made working on my baby a bit of a hassle. My front driverside ball joints need to be replaced. Of course, I will attempt to do all of the joints on both front tires. Today I took apart the passenger side, pulled off the brake, the disk, and proceded to attempted to get off the bolts with some PB and even heat to the bolts. I've broken 2 boxend wrenches and stripped a ratchet. I'm of course expecting that my baby is trying to tell me something and I have decided to quit while I am ahead with just a brake job.

My question, if I break some of those 3 bolts when taking them out, what are my options. The bolts on the knuckle are pretty much now a rusted part of the jeep. It's rusted even on the outside where the bolt threads stick out. Essentially, if I can't get them out peacefully, and I have to get to breaking them off, or applying a torch to them, what are my options?

What exactly will I need to get to replace the parts? A new knuckle? 3 new bolts? Possibly the plate that the bolts go through?

Also, is there any way to do this job without removing those bolts? It might be more of a hassle, but will still be easier and cheaper than replacing those parts? Any advice, or even stories about other peoples experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

I have never found a nut or bolt that would not come loose when you heat it up till its cherry red.
It removes the rust, and free siezed bolts and nuts.
Try a little more heat.
If its a bolt, try heating the part the bolt is tightened into if possible.
LAst resort is ATF/Acetone 50/50 mix spray it and let it set a few hours and try to loosen again.

 

Try a breaker bar as well you can't strip those and stronger than a wrench

 

are you heating it up till its red hot?

 

Use a pipe wrench, if you can get one on it...but be prepared to drill and tap.

 

I guess I didn't use enough heat. 5 minutes with a propane tank. Guess I'll try again.

I'm just a little gunshy after breaking the bolts to the steering box as well as the bolts to the rear leaf springs. Are yall sure the bolts going into the steering knuckle are super strong? If so, I'll torch heat them till red. What about using a MAP gas cannister?

 

^ I'm in the same boat, every nut/bolt/screw I touch on my Jeep ends up breaking, stripping or disfiguring in someway. I will say though, I did get my leaf bolts out with a few minutes of torch heating. That's the ticket and an impact. Using a breaker bar, or anything that applies torque in that manner, will undoubtedly leave you with broken hardware. Now when ever I work on the Jeep I crack the valves on my oxygen and acetylene tanks...

 

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'll get some gas.

 

Use acetylene or map gas, propane will not heat it hot enough

 

+1 I use map gas