Manifold stud removal

[Pricey]

I have had success with 3 rusted head studs on my Ruby using heat combined with plumbers freeze spray, penetrating oil & a cup of tea.

I warmed up the stud and area of the block around the stud. Not too much just enough so fingers cant touch it.

Then a cloth placed around the stud base and a liberal dose of freeze spray. The cloth stops the block from being cooled. The stud is cooled quickly and contracts then remove cloth and spray it with penetrating oil.

Boil the kettle, make a cup of tea.
Drink tea.

I then used the type of stud extractor as described by Hugh Barnes.

Wear gloves. The freeze spray creates -30deg. Your skin does stick to the cold metal. Dont ask how I know

This tip was gained from an Agricutural engineer who deals with rusted studs on a regular basis.

[Charles P]

I have a set of these Hugh - imperial sizing 1/4 and 5/16 Sykes Pickervant, invaluable to me.

They are old tools and I have tried unsuccessfully to find new of same make, if anyone has leads I would be most interested.

R

I bought a metric "no-brand" set of that type of extractor from Amazon Prime - they work fine. I doubt that they'll last as well as Sykes Pickervant ones but they did prove that metric ones fit imperial studs

Charles

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Thank you Charles - I too have some metric ones that do work and were extremely good value. The S/P are very good quality indeed and work very well indeed - I am always on the look out for spare tools like this "just in case" something goes wrong.

I must say that the King Dick imperial ratchet spanners you alerted us all to a few years back are quite possibly the most useful tool set I have ever invested in - bloody excellent!

[Hugh Barnes]

I have a set of these Hugh - imperial sizing 1/4 and 5/16 Sykes Pickervant, invaluable to me.

They are old tools and I have tried unsuccessfully to find new of same make, if anyone has leads I would be most interested.

Mine are also Imperial sized Sykes Pickervant (I think I have 5 in all) and were bought second hand from Ebay where they do turn up from time to time. They do work in both directions, of course, so you can use them to fit studs as well as removing them. No more nasty scars on your stud shanks from the ravages of a pair of Mole grips. As a result, you can 'cycle' the movement though I will admit, not quite as positively as you might do with a pair of grips...

I am requesting 3 sizes of Imperial ratchet spanners, one each, from my 3 daughters for Christmas...

[JonE]

just been looking up the generic kits on amazon.. then saw these which are by Sykes. So is the idea that the metric will be essentially "fine" for Austin 7 imperial studs?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SALE-Sykes-Pi...rk:14:pf:0

[Ritchie Wilson]

I have had success with 3 rusted head studs on my Ruby using heat combined with plumbers freeze spray, penetrating oil & a cup of tea.

I warmed up the stud and area of the block around the stud. Not too much just enough so fingers cant touch it.

Then a cloth placed around the stud base and a liberal dose of freeze spray. The cloth stops the block from being cooled. The stud is cooled quickly and contracts then remove cloth and spray it with penetrating oil.

Boil the kettle, make a cup of tea.
Drink tea.

I then used the type of stud extractor as described by Hugh Barnes.

Heating, cooling, cycling and tapping all have in common that they subject the rust between the threads to forces which would disrupt the structure of the rust crystals jammed between the block and the stud. Only after the rust has been disturbed could lubricant be expected to be able to penetrate between the threads.
Very strong heating might change the chemical structure of the rust so that it doesn't lock the threads together, but the temper of the stud may also suffer - making it easier to break.

The very well thought of (in New Zealand) Japanese tool brand Koken makes stud removers in imperial sizes, but the devices illustrated have metric markings suggesting that metric removers are serviceable for imperial sized studs.

The hardened steel, left hand thread "stud extractors" are only suitable for removing well lubricated fasteners which have broken for some reason. The two occasions I used one on rusted bolt fragments they broke. On the first occasion, an aluminium motorcycle engine, spark erosion saved the day at considerable expense. The second experience was with a broken fastener in a Record rebate plane which I never did extract. I bought another one. There won't be a third occasion.

[Jeff Taylor]

Thanks to Ritchie for mentioning this (new to me) Japanese tool brand - a quick search shows that Ko-ken (UK) Ltd are based in Bolton. The availability of imperial sized stud extractors is mentioned on their products page. 

http://www.koken.co.uk/services.html

http://www.koken.co.uk/KOKEN_201708ENSP.pdf

http://www.koken.co.uk/contact.html