Help please! towbar bolts wont come out!

[bambamjj]

Hello all.

had to cut of towbar in the end but the shaft of the bolts are rusted in to the chassis, just where you would mount your jate rings.  So now have now way of fitting decent recovery points, any idea

[Jake]

Can you drill them out?
 :)

[ben_haynes]

you should be able to knock them out with a punch, or carefully (watching the fuel tank) heat them up with a blowtorch, and push them out

[bambamjj]

Tried drilling  equivalent of drilling thru 3" steel and began to wander to much, heating Not sure about that.  Thinking about tryingto find someone who can make me a new set to fit on and then get somebody to weld them on.

[corrosiverob]

Have you managed to keep the towing electrics?


I am after the one with the plug/socket on the wiring end for me truck.


thanks rob

[bambamjj]

Hello Rob

they were smashed so binned them, sorry

[clbarclay]

heating Not sure about that. 

You might not be, but having done a few of these that have had 20+ years to grow in heat (and plenty of it) is the most effective tool on them. Not so good if your chassis has just been waxoiled.

If you still have a hex left on one end so much the better.
Bake them for a while, then stick a socket on one end with a T-bar and work it back a forth, don't just keep bearing on it one way. the idea being little by little to loosen the bolt.

[redhand]

If they're siezed and you just try to hammer them out you mushroom the end of the bolt and make it worse. You need heat. If all else fails then it is possible to cut them off with a grinder and make new mountings to replace them. I have done this. and its quite simple just 2 strips of flat 50mm x 3mm plate and a short length of 10mm bore tubing.

[kiteman0]

heat is the way forward as the others have said :clap:
mine sheared off aswell so i heated up the bolts and just sat there turning them with a socket backwards and forwards untill they
came loose,took a while but came out in the end :D

[Les Henson]

If you are not going to git the tow bar brackets, then drill new holes for the Jate rings (don't forget to fit crush tubes though).
Otherwise - a lot of heat will eventually get the old ones out.


Les.

[redhand]

If you are not going to git the tow bar brackets, then drill new holes for the Jate rings (don't forget to fit crush tubes though).
Otherwise - a lot of heat will eventually get the old ones out.


Les.

It's a disco. The jate rings go through the tow monting brackets. and the crush tube is welded to the undereath of the chassis.

[Disco Matt]

Mine were a swine to get out but eventually gave in to a combination of Plusgas (miles better than WD-40 for removing seized bits) the right size spanners and a bit of carefully targetted hammering. I don't have a grinder and won't put a blowtorch that close to the fuel tank.

I remembered the advice about not hitting the ends of the bolts and walloped the tie down points instead, which got the bolts out without damaging anything else. Now fully reassembled with a Discoparts detachable towbar and looking for an excuse to try it out!

[lee celtic]

Have you managed to get the bolts out yet???

The garage fitting my tow bar couldn't get the bolts out either  :lol: :lol: so last night I drilled three 3mm holes evenly spaced through the tubes the bolts go through. then used the thin tube on a can of penatrating spray to get as much as possible into the tubes , then I got a junior hacksaw blade cut it to a sharp point with snips and began picking at the crud around the bolts (it came out very easy if a little slow) until a chanel was cleared through the tube (constantly spraying.)

then just tapped the bolts though with a punch and hammer  :D

this all took about an hour and a half but it did work .

the bolts get copperslip and after they were in the 3mm holes were used to pump in grease  ;)

if you havent got them out hope this helps :D

[bambamjj]

Thanks Lee

Will give it a go, been soaking them over the last 3-4 weeks every other day with WD.

On another thread i had decided to use the upper towbar mounts with a piece of 50x10 flat plate with the rear crossmember sandwiched between with may be some D lugs welded on or may try and get hold of a NATO hitch, but i believe these are 4 hole fixing?

Will let you know how i get on

Jon

[J.D.]

Nato Hitch is indeed a four bolt mount but will fit on the rear crossmember as mine now has a nato hitch there.

If you want pics, I can get some for you.

[mentalmoshio sophs V8i]

if it bothers u about the fuel tank , remove it first  :roll: ok more time least ur gonna have a motor at the end .

towbar stuff i was told cant be rushed for very good reasons . some which maybe be life depending i.e an up turned carvan due to an un centre pull  :oops:

[bambamjj]

JD

Photos would be very much appreciated  :)

[Range Rover Blues]

I snapped one of mine., shouldn't have been using the lashing eye for recovery, not the weekend before we go away in the caravan at least

Anyway, it didn't want to some out.  Annoying as the bolt that was left was way thinner than the tube it was in and there wasn't even much rust around it.

The tube is not a full tube either, as I found when my drill bit caught the edge and snapped.

I ended up grinding the bottom off the tuve in the middle, drilling the bolt into 3 pieces and hammering each one out with a chisel.  There's minimal damage to the chassis and it's strong enough without the repair.