Removing rusted driveshaft bolts
 

I have just got the full rear axle from a sierra gt with rear disc brakes and bolt on driveshafts but having trouble removing the bolts from the driveshafts as very rusted.
Ive tried giving them a quick clean up to remove the thick of the rust but they are very tight and having trouble getting a good grip with the torx bit(40 or 45 I think it was)
Any ideas? heat or grind off are the first methods that come to mind but don't want to do any damage.

heat cool quickly,repeat repeat repeat repeat etc until they give

Cold chisel and big hammer is an option. Bash the bolt heads CCW from the middle of the head until they undo.

As above but its a shitbag to work on rolling it around on the floor.:mad: If your still having grief those 1mm thick cutting discs for the small grinder would cut all those heads off without hurting anything else.

bob

Give it a good soaking of wd40 for a day or 2 then use the heat method :eek:

Tried for a week to get them off my drive shafts... in the end just ground them off... think I went through 5 torx bits and a torx driver

Weld a foot-long offcut of a chassis tube to a bolt, it should give easily. Repeat as necessary.

Thanks for all the ideas.
Well they will be soaked in wd40 for a few days then will see how I get on at the weekend.

Normally they are not rusted but the tension is doing it's job. often as soon as the preasure is release the bolts spin out cleanly ( so if you cut the heads off they usualy come out ok)

Anyway.

1) Dig out all the crud from the torx socket to increase the drive surface and reduce the chance of slipage.

2) Get a impact driver and with a 5LB lump hammer, give each bolt head a got 20 whacks.

3) Use a breaker bar ( not a normal wrench ) and apply gentle pressure. Do not shock load.

Oh yeah, forgot I had an impact driver.
One of them tools that I've had for years and never used.

i find some brute force and ignorance works wounders :D

I had never really been a believer in wd40 but I think it really did help.
Had a go earlier with a little bit of hammering and I got a few of them off fairly easy, until the torx bit damaged.
I think the the most important part is cleaning out the head of the bolt to ensure a good grip and avoid damaging the head.

Its at times like this that quality tools come in to play as well . Once the tools knarl up they chew the bolt and its game over, then its grinder and chisel time:o

Bob