Removing stump grinder bolts...help

SeanKroll

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Heat and penetrating oil helped to break free most of the old Rayco style pockets to replace the teeth. Some bolt head's recessed hex heads rounded out. What to do?

Do I need a cutting torch? Will that risk warping wheel?
 
The bolt heads themselves wear, reducing the allen's engagement depth.

In situations like that, we'd use a cutting torch/plasma cutter to cut the head off. Never had a problem with the wheel. It could be done with a grinder, but that would suck a lot more; couple minute job with a torch.
 
I've taken a cold chisel, on smaller bolts, and kinda deformed the outside of the head to try to get the hex shape back. A good cleaning of the socket, nice tap of the hex into the hole. Other thing I've done is take an oversized hex and grind a slight taper, kinda wedge it in. I have tried to weld the socket into the bolt as well on larger bolts, mixed results
 
Drill bit the size of the bolt shank. Once you get past the head, you can just punch the other pocket out assuming the bolt is threaded into it and not the wheel
 
I'm not familiar with how those particular bolts go in there or what not, but a few tricks I've learned that work really well are heat it up and put regular parrifin wax on it, it wicks down in the threads better than anything I've ever used. If the bolt head or hex is rounded beyond usefulness, welding a nut on the end so you can get a wrench on it works wonders. If you got a oxy acetylene setup, using that to weld with will dump tons of heat on it, so that's what I usually use, but if you have a mig welder, that works too. You can stick weld them too, but not very easily. Be very careful using a plasma cutter to cut stuff off, the curving kerf and metal seeking behaviour works against you. If you have a oxy acetylene torch, it's usually better because the kerf is perfectly straight and it will not cut through multiple layers as easily as easily as a plasma. If you set your torch to a very harsh oxidizing flame and use small bursts of oxygen, you can actually wash steel away, leaving the steel piece underneath undamaged. It takes some practice, but after you learn how you can wash nuts off bolts without damaging them.
 
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  • #9
I've used an angle grinder.

I know there are things called cutting torches and welders. ;)


I'll replace the bolts.

Grinding out the pockets sounds terribly time-consuming.

I'd wondered about drilling out the heads of the bolts. Sounds cheap and easy. I know that they are threaded pockets on the opposite side. I Presume this would mean the wheel Can't be threaded.




My employee (the ironworker who worked for me in the past, came back during layoff for a month. He's going back to ironworking for month contract, then coming back to work for me FT. Ironworking money is better, but commuting is killing him) was working on it with a propane torch. Would you heat the threaded pocket, the bolt head, both, or some other combination?




My impact wrench didn't do it.

Have used penetrating oil, Freeze-Off and PB Blaster.
I remembered the paraffin idea you mentioned in the past, Kyle.
Considered the other thing I'd heard of acetone/ ATF mix for super-penetrating oil.




I wondered about welding the multiple worn-out allen wrenches to the worn out holes, then carrying on using a cheater pipe.

I'd guess a guy would need to put a washer over the pocket with an inner diameter slightly smaller than the bolt head, slightly bigger than the allen wrench, in order to not weld the bolt to the pocket.
 
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  • #13
I spoke to my friend this morning on a social call. He's not sounding busy, so I might get him to do a bit of welding and a bit of torch cutting.

Thanks for the advice.


If I just want to buy a cutting torch, can you offer some input on an entry level torch? The welding's not pressing.
 
I had my rayco bolts cut off by an expert welder, I was worried about the wheel too, he said 'no issue' and it wasn't, but for a noob I would imagine it could be.
 
Up here those smaller tanks are the way to go. Bottle contracts can be very high. We are allowed to own the smaller ones. Can even get them exchanged at TSC and some autoparts stores, on weekends. I managed to aquire 3 spares, even for the MIG welder.
 
Buy a Victor journeyman set. It will cost a little more than the cheap ones, but it will outlive you and possibly your offspring. The tips are cheaper than the Harris or Smith, and they are what you will find on every construction site in the continent. It is the most versatile tool I own, it can weld, braze, braze weld, heat, cut, gouge, clean surfaces, even fix a hangover by huffing oxygen (cutting oxygen is actually more pure than medical grade ;) ).

The bottles are an easy way to get burned if you don't know what you are doing. The small bottles have their place, but I would strongly recommend against them. You will run out in the middle of what you are doing, and it will defeat the whole purpose of having your own setup. The rental contracts for the big ones are ridiculous, but most construction outfits use them without question, so they charge whatever they want. Contrary to what everyone will tell you, you can own the larger size bottles. The problem is that some air suppliers won't trade in. So you can drop them off and pick them up in a week or so filled. The testing is less than $20 every 7 years (watch this too), and some won't touch another company branded bottle. It's really a giant scam. The outfit around here that I originally bought my bottles from has a $20 per bottle maintenance fee, but then you can go there and they just swap them out. So you can see they are effin my eyes out. I'm planning on buying the biggest bottles they make, making sure that the neck cap is either blank or linde (older company that has touched every bottle out there it seems), and then waiting to have that bottle filled and returned to me. That will be the best way. Other than that I would try the tsc kinds, that way you can get them filled on a weekend.

A plasma cutter will start to look inviting to you if you are looking into the total cost for a nice touch setup, but I'm going to advise against that as well. They do cut small stuff very well, but that is all they do. 1/4" will be a struggle with a homeowner plasma, and the tips are dramatically more expensive in time. It's a one trick pony, where a decent torch setup will do so much more.

Welding is not difficult, but it's hard enough fighting your machine. With the exception of a handful of stick welders and some mid level plasma cutters, anything that runs on single phase power is going to be a toy. I'm sure some on here will attempt to disagree, but I do this for money, and stand by that statement. A generator style welder will be more versitile and powerful, for usually a lower cost (until you get into 3 phase machines, which go for relatively cheap because everyone is buying a garage model mig gun).
 
I've got three sets of torches ,two with intermediate size tanks which I own and one with the larger bottles .Two engine driven welders,A Hobart mainliner 250 and a Lincoln SA200 .A Lincoln 250 buzz box circa 1940 ,a Westinghouse 400 DC rectifier rewired for single phase and an oddball P and H 300 motor generator Those are at my shop .At the house an old Marquette buzz box and one of those torch sets.
I can burn a nut off a bolt and never mess up the threads .Done so many a time .Usually though if you can get to the nut all it takes is some heat .
 
I bought my O/A torch set bottles from Praxair ,I think $160 each, but I moved to an area where the only supplier is Airgas and asked them if they will fill my bottles and they just swapped them out for their brand so now I just am paying for the gas inside. They are size S for the oxygen and WS for the acetylene. The o2 bottle is about four foot tall and last me about two years between fills. The torch is a Victor medalist set it came with three welding tips, two regulators, a rosebud, torch body, cutting head, 25' of hose, two cutting tips, and a bottle wrench for $400 (1998 price). Good set and has served me well over the years. A few things to consider flashback arrestors are a must and a better quality acetylene bottle wrench and a good quality bottle cart. I like a 50' hose as I can keep the bottle cart in the shop and cut outside.
 
IMO every tree guy NEEDS a torch set way to handy for repairs and making stuff. Plus a good welder is invaluable and will pay for themselves quickly.
Like when I built my chip box I figured I saved about 6 grand building it myself. Welding is not all that hard to learn and practice makes perfect.
 
It takes quite a bit of practice to get good at it though. The iron worker knows how for sure.

I think I would give the drill a whirl. If the bolts aren't real hard the hole is already started and centered with the allen wrench recess. Worth a shot.
 
I can't imagine drilling won't suck. The bolts are hardened and given the diameter it'll be hard to get substaintial down pressure.
 
Al, I have a '71 sa200 too, thing welds so smooth I just clip a rod and bounce it off the pipe and it does the rest lol. Seriously, if any of you come across one of them going for a decent price, pick it up, you will not be disappointed. Grabbed mine from a junkyard for $500 while drunk looking for pontoons to build a party barge with one day years ago.
 
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  • #24
Thanks for all the good advice. It will take time to digest. I don't know differences between welding types. Saw a plasma cutter used, once, forever ago.

Right now, I'll probably outsource the torch work and get some D-rings welded on.





I'm super cramped on space at the moment, and keep buying stuff. Hopefully, less than 6 months and I'll be in my own house.
Seems like I need a metal cutting bandsaw, too, in order to do fabrication work.



I built the wood chip/ mini box on my back-up F450 because I didn't have the tools for fabrication. My employee offered to weld up a box, but I didn't have money to invest in tools, plus materials. There are often times when I'd like to make a bracket or widget. He'd be excited for me to get a welder. He's itching for me to get my ShopSmith bandsaw running (just bought snap ring pliers yesterday to replace the 'tires') and lathe.
Looking forward to learning some stuff from him.
Also, he'll hopefully be getting a small bandsaw mill, or if he can't afford it at the time (he's not great with money), maybe I'll get the opportunity to buy the mill. Might have a line on some land to rent for work space.
 
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