Need to replace RR hub assembly.
The 3 Torx bolts hold the assembly on
WILL NOT BUDGE!

Have been using 50/50 mix acatone trans fluid, heat, hammering, and impact gun.
WILL NOT BUDGE!

Looking at my cut off wheel now, but I didn't want to turn this into a hack job.

Any ideas?

Oh , do I mention they
WILL NOT BUDGE!

 

I have had the same problem on my 1968 C3, My 1988 C4 and numerous other vehicles with stuck bolts. They are a problem of the past as I learned a great way to get them to come out!

Buy a can of KROIL OIL from Amazon or whomever ~ $15.
Get a hot air gun or a small propane torch, HEAT is crucial to getting the parts free and helps draw the Kroil oil into the gap. You do not want something that can melt aluminum.
Soak the bolts with Kroil Oil and let it sit for a few hours. If you have access to the rear of the bolt in the hole be sure to squirt the Kroil oil in there as well.
Heat the bolts up and the surrounding metal with very hot air or a propane torch.
Squirt more Kroil on the bolts while their still hot. Capillary action should help draw the Kroil oil into the joint.
Heat and Kroil at least twice and then let it cool down a bit and try removing the bolts now
If they don't budge then continue with a bit more heat and Kroil oil and just go a bit hotter, you don't want to damage the metal.

When you put them back in be sure to use a little Anti-Seize so this never happens again! Anytime you have two dis-similar metals always use anti-seize...

I have never failed yet using the KROIL oil method with heat. I had tried a zillion other penetrating oils before but NOTHING works like KROIL OIL! This stuff does the job when nothing else will!

Okay 89dd try that before going any further! Let me know if you have success or not... I would bet it will work, It has always worked for me. No more drilling out bolts, no more heli-coils and less frustration in your life!

Best regards,
Chris

 

If it's electrolysis, steel bolt in aluminum hole self welding, you might as well plan on replacing knuckle(s). You might want to source one before crossing the point of no return. A breaker bar a 3 + feet of pipe might work if you can keep socket firmly in bolt.

 

This is just a thought, having changed my RR hub. Are you trying to work around the half-shaft or did you remove it? It's not hard to remove the half-shaft and it gives you a straight shot at the torx bolts. I know there are those that do it with the shaft still in, but when I did mine I couldn't, so the shaft came out and direct shot at the bolts.
On a side note, I used the HF impact torx with an impact wrench and it made quick work of them.

 

Half shaft is still in, and have a straight shot a the bolts.
Packed it in for today.
Soaking bolts overnight, brother has a more powerful impact gun. Hopefully we'll have better luck tomorrow.

 

You can try heat and a candle. It will deep into the threads

 

When you have a steel spark plug screwing into a aluminum Cylinder head there is the potential for "Galling" where the dis-similar metals can get "stuck together. Any time you have dis-similar metals you should use anti-seize to prevent Galling from happening in the first place.

The KROIL Oil is described this way:

Kroil - An industry proven penetrating oil that has no equal. Used by 480 of the Fortune 500 companies! Based on scientific discoveries at Kano Laboratories, Kroil creeps into millionth inch spaces, breaks bonds due to rust, corrosion, contamination, or compression and lubricates to loosen frozen metal parts.

I am not some wacky person trying to sell you something. This Kroil Oil REALLY works, why do 480 of 500 Fortune 500 companies use it? Simple.... It does what it says it does. Not like many products in this day and age.

There is nothing out there that works like the Kroil Oil does. I have been using it for decades with great success. It is great on frozen fasteners in Boats as well, anywhere you have a stuck fastener I would use it.

Don't just use more force, things do break at some point. Have you tried tightening the bolt just a hair before attempting to back it out? Sometimes that helps free it up.

Candle wax nor automatic transmission fluid or anything will work as well as the Kroil Oil. I have taken some really horribly stuck fasteners out with heat and Kroil Oil.

Best regards,
Chris

 

[QUOTE=ctmccloskey;1600425936]When you have a steel spark plug screwing into a aluminum Cylinder head there is the potential for "Galling" where the dis-similar metals can get "stuck together. Any time you have dis-similar metals you should use anti-seize to prevent Galling from happening in the first place.

Fully aware of the affects of galling. And use anti- seize as standard practice.
Steel bolts pass through aluminum knuckle and bolt into cast iron hub flange.
The car has 240k mi , I doubt they are the original hubs but they could be.
And I've tried tightening and loosening to try and break free.
Had other things to work on today. Will try tomorrow . Will keep posted.

 

Just remove the knuckle assembly and get it mounted in a vise. Makes this much easier.

 

This or impact gun have worked for me in the past!

 

I use a combo of heating and rapid cooling with a CRC product called "Freeze Off". Heat it real hot, soak it good, do it again, then again. Tapping the bolt between cycles may be helpful. Be careful because the spray is flammable so be prepared for a flareup. Good luck.

 

Just heat the freakin thing. HEAT it. Use HEAT. HEAT works. You need to HEAT it.

And I don't meant with candle, things in cans, and propane torches. Get out the oxygen acetylene torch and heat the bejeezus out of the hub, where the bolt threads through it. Have you gun ready, then hit the trigger. It's come right out.

 

GUYS. The OP is not dealing with steel bolts in aluminum housing....
BINGO. No magic happening here. OP just need to heat the hell out of the hub flange where the bolts thread through it.

 

Update.
After 4 hours today, one bolt is out.
Used a 1,000+ ft lb rated impact gun. The other 2 mothers' haven't budged. Using Kroil as suggested, and the torch.
Still have my cut off wheel close by as a last resort.
These are the hardest bolts I've ever encountered. I would think that something would have broke by now.

 

What kind of torch are you using?

Also, how long and thick is your extension (that's what SHE asked!) to get you from the gun, to the socket? You gotta be using an extension...and ain't no 1k lb-ft getting to the socket when using an extension on an impact gun.


.

 

That was my problem. All the torque and hammering from my impact gun was being lost in the long extension twisting. A very short straight extension with those round swivel ends and an impact socket, heat and WD40 ... they came out.

 

Yep. The extension will bite you when using impacts! you gotta either eliminate it, or use a constant torque device....like a breaker bar and your arms.

Or HEAT. When the little Prop-ee torch ain't doing it....you gotta break out the Oxy-acetylene. torch.

 

Got one more out.
One more to go.
Then the other side.
What a ball breaker.

 

Using a mapp gas torch. And a 3" extension

 

Piece of cake now! As soon as you have the confidence that you can remove one, you will be able to remove them all!