I'm going to have to change from grease rollers to lifetime.Does anyone have suggestions for removing rusted bolts>

Some tractors have tapped strips inside the roller frames & at the shop many had to be replaced because you broke bolts off trying to turn them out so you usually replaced the strips.Sometimes you could drill the broken bolt out but the cost then was more for time than new strips.If the frames are off we could hit the bolt heads with a heavy hammer & that tended to loosen them up many times & then turn them out. Also heating them helps sometimes.Some if not all later tractor frames were tapped in the frame & no strips there to deal with so the heat & hitting the bolt heads worked out the best with this type. This is a couple oprations we did at the dealer to deal with them.Never seize the threads good when you go back so next time if there is one it should help removing them easier.

If you can't heat around where the bolt is tapped into the frame or strip, then heat the bolt head to cherry red and let it cool completely. Sometimes wax melted onto the hot threads if you can get to them will penetrate the rust and help when the bolt has cooled and it is time to unscrew them.

The trick to the process is knowing when to quit before you wring one off. If you don't wring off the head, you can always try something else to get it loosened up. Once the head is off, then you get to try a whole 'nother bag of tricks to get the stump out!

I like impact wrenches for loosening rusted fasteners, but you may not be able to get on the bolt heads.

Good luck!

This has worked for me but we have a rather dry climate and the D4 has never operated in much mud or muck.
I first power wash the inside of the track frame to get all the dirt and dust off the bolt threads and then use a small hand sprayer to spray Kroil onto the threads. I do it from both the front and the rear. Do that a couple times in a couple of days and the bolts in the rollers came right out. Like someone said, use anti-seize when putting back together but I imagine I will be long gone before someone else has to replace them again.

Kroil rules! If anyone hasn't bought it yet, toss your WD-40 away. Kano Laboratories in Nashville i believe. A spray can lasted me 6 years. Don't know what is in it, but it works.

D4 Jim's Idea works the best.

Usually when the rainy season starts in late November we take all the tin off and pressure wash the equipment then bring it in for the winter inspection. One summer I had to crawl under one of the cats to do a patch job and change a roller. All the fine dust kept galling the threads, not one bolt but all the bolts and I actually snapped one of the big bolts off.
The next winter they decided to change everything and I was amazed when I went to the shop and one of our guys got the other 11 rollers off with no problems and no heat.
Looking back cleaning the tractor was the only thing different. I have even had problems with dust filling up the threaded holes that are filled with cork, such as when attaching trunions to a tractor for the first time.



What ever you do use never seize on every threaded fastener.

Years ago I was working on a laser experiment and everything was made from Stainless steel and pasivated, As someone who grew up in the dirt and learned by trying to get things apart to fix it I thought there needs to be something plated or applied to prevent seizing, I was basically told by the Piled Higher and deepers that it was stainless and it can't rust or seize.
Then when they went to install it, just as predicted they had threads galling up in multi billion dollar components that could not get dirty.

Here is our area years ago when I worked for the dealer so many tractors & equip. was used in the coal strippings & not only rust corroded everything but the metal including the bolts would be eaten away from the sulphur or whatever did it & it sure made a problem working on parts, & things that were exposed to the problem doing it.I have seen bolts eaten half away from it & even some metal parts itself.

CR;12091 wrote:

D4 Jim's Idea works the best.

"One summer I had to crawl under one of the cats to do a patch job and change a roller. All the fine dust kept galling the threads, not one bolt but all the bolts and I actually snapped one of the big bolts off.
The next winter they decided to change everything and I was amazed when I went to the shop and one of our guys got the other 11 rollers off with no problems and no heat.
Looking back cleaning the tractor was the only thing different."

Dear CR, Water is soluble with more elements than any other known liquid. Water with a high ph is also a lubricant. Many low pressure steam engines use only the water in their wet steam for their engine lubrication. By first power washing the roller frame, the dust was melted and the threads were lubricated with water. Now you know why the fasteners came off easier. SSsssteamer

Dear SSsssteamer, Yes water is a universal solvent; any liquid water that would have lubricated the threads would have long dried up by the time the tractor was taken apart. The tractors are washed in mid November and are not worked on until February - March....There was probably more rust created by high pressure washing followed by sitting, than lubricant created by the water, when water dries it will leave a cleaner surface, but it does not leave behind a lubricating residue.

I do not doubt the fact that water can lubricate, many times when items are retrieved from the bottom of a body of water, they are transferred to a container where they are kept wet mainly due to preventing corrosion and oxidation before they are neutralized and removed from the bath, but many times items that have been recovered must disassembled before they are removed from the bath.
Out here 80% of the soil is smaller than one micron, although a standard 1" - 8 class 2 thread has 50 microns of clearance at MMC on the pitch diameter; the fine dust can easily get packed into the fasteners reducing clearance binding the fastener. Once you drive out that dust you have clearance to allow that fastener to turn, providing that rust has not built up on the thread further reducing clearance, remember these tractors are operating in dust, generally not water soluble adhesive substances.

Is Never Seize a brand name? I have been reading about it on this Board and thought I would get some to use on the bolts that hold the blades on my finishing mower since I usually have trouble getting them loose. I went to the NAPA store and asked parts guy for never seize and he brought out NAPA Permatex Anti-Seize Compound, item# 765-1150. I asked if he had the Never Seize brand and he said he had never heard of it. I bought the Permatex product, but don't know if it works or not, since I have not taken the blades off yet.

Thanks,
D6 Bo