Posted by Greg Coffin [172.68.34.47] on Friday, April 12, 2024 at 13:05:30 :
I'm working on an LU2 winch for my M37, and I have four 1/2" bolts that are broken off and frozen in the aluminum housings. These are the bolts that hold the angle iron stays to the top of the winch.
Last fall I drilled 1/4" holes in each of the bolts and filled the cavity with Kroil over the winter. Yesterday I welded 1/2" nuts to the the tiny stubs of the bolts, and was able to get one of the bolts out after 2 tries. The other bolts have almost nothing sticking out of the housing, and the nuts didn't grab well.
Next attempt was to weld 1/2" flat washers to the bolts (better welding to the bolts), then weld 5/8" nuts to the flat washers and fill the nut with welding. The nuts were glowing red after welding, but the bolts are still stuck.
I rewelded flat washers and nuts to 2 of the bolts last night and let them sit over night. Today I'm heating the nuts with a propane torch to try to drive the heat into the casting more.
One of the bolts is broken off too deep to weld to, so I'm probably going to have to drill it out and hopefully save the threads, or install a Helicoil.
Is there anything else I should do here? Heat the castings some? Should I try to remove the bolt with everything hot or let it cool? Any help is much appreciated.
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