Saw a video of a guy using a heat gun on a rusted bolt and it changed my approach entirely

I was stuck on a seized brake caliper bolt this weekend, soaking it in PB Blaster for 20 minutes with no luck. Then I remembered a short clip where a mechanic heated the bolt area for 30 seconds and it twisted right off, so I tried it with my wife's hair dryer and it actually worked. Has anyone else had good results using heat on stubborn fasteners around the garage?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana_king27d agoMost Upvoted

HOLD UP, I gotta push back a little. Is a rusty bolt REALLY that big of a deal that you need to bring a hair dryer or a torch into the mix? I mean, come ON. I've worked on old farm equipment and a seized bolt is just part of the game. A little elbow grease and a good breaker bar usually does the trick for me. All this talk about melting wire harnesses and ruining stuff with heat seems like way more trouble than it's worth. Maybe I'm just stubborn but I feel like people give up way too fast.

wesley_thompson27d ago

Oh man, heat is magic. I had a lawnmower blade bolt that wouldn't budge for anything. Got pissed, grabbed a propane torch from the grill, hit it for like ten seconds. That thing spun off like it was barely tightened.

victor_carr2527d ago

Ha, right? Heat is like cheating at life. I once spent an hour wrestling with a seized bolt on an old truck's alternator bracket, cussing up a storm. Finally gave up, hit it with a heat gun meant for stripping paint, and it basically unscrewed itself. Felt like a total idiot for not trying it sooner. Course, I also melted a nearby wire harness and had to splice that back together, so my victories come with a side of self sabotage.