Rusty bolts

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, slowjigger said:

That's assuming your bottle is concentrated HCL This will be 37-38% as it can't be dissolved in water much higher than that. You need some serious PPE such as acid resistant gloves, safety glasses and or face shield, and avoid breathing the fumes. 

PPE is always recommended with all solvents.( Its always on the instuctons/msds).

  It’s exactly that…recommended.I’ve lost count how many times I’ve used and use it without any of the PPE.I use it weekly almost up to 500ml at a time to chuck in pool and so does everyone else I know with a pool.

Pour half litre in measuring jug and throw it in the pool.

I haven’t died yet and neither has anyone else i know.

If you or anyone else is that worried or fragile by all means use ppe and wrap yourself up in a Cotton ball when you leave the house incase something dreadful happens.

 Others can do as they please I do me.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Fab1

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, Hoods said:

A great discussion Gentlemen, Can anyone explain why that particular location has suffered so much rust compared to surrounding areas and how the rust can be prevented please??

Thanks, Hoods

Not sure about why only that side but can help you on preventing it in future.Don’t use your boat like I do and they will look like mine in the photo.😂In all seriousness if you get a new trailer later seal it up and fill with sump oil, washing trailer down straight after launch/retrieve all help, various sprays sprayed on it etc,etc.

Good luck with the wd 40 I’d go with blow torch if you don’t want to use acid.

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, slowjigger said:

They make a penetrating spray. It is sure to come in handy for other jobs eg stuck fishing reel screws. 

Soldering iron to heat the screw and those small coloured birthday candles will get the screw out the same way as blowtorch with less excitement.

[slowjigger]

7 hours ago, Fab1 said:

Soldering iron to heat the screw and those small coloured birthday candles will get the screw out the same way as blowtorch with less excitement.

It's better to heat the nut - you want to expand it away from the bolt. 

[slowjigger]

7 hours ago, Fab1 said:

PPE is always recommended with all solvents.( Its always on the instuctons/msds).

  It’s exactly that…recommended.I’ve lost count how many times I’ve used and use it without any of the PPE.I use it weekly almost up to 500ml at a time to chuck in pool and so does everyone else I know with a pool.

Pour half litre in measuring jug and throw it in the pool.

I haven’t died yet and neither has anyone else i know.

If you or anyone else is that worried or fragile by all means use ppe and wrap yourself up in a Cotton ball when you leave the house incase something dreadful happens.

 Others can do as they please I do me.

It can send you blind if you get it in your eyes. Totally reckless to use strong acid (throwing it around) without eye protection. 

[jeffb5.8]

On 8/14/2023 at 9:18 PM, Bait_drifta said:

Thanks for all your suggestions guys! 
I know the cross member is not in the best shape.  I have some what treated the area to get me through a couple more seasons hopefully. 
 

I have sprayed them with wd40 and let it soak In . Tried to undo it with sockets but the nut keeps spinning they are to far gone as Noel suggested.
 

I have an idea of drilling a hole ( pilot hole first) through  the nut then again at  roughy the same size.  Then grabbing a cold chisel to spilt the nut in half. After that hopefully jimmying the bolt out with a screw drive. I could also cut the bolt head flush try bashing it out like Noel said but not keen on whacking it to hard in fear cause more damage. It’s not a user friendly design I think ( the bolt and nut combo). 
 
I don’t have blow touch might have to get one , to help. 

 

Can you fit a thick screwdriver or piece of metal to stop the nut spinning?

[noelm]

13 minutes ago, jeffb5.8 said:

Can you fit a thick screwdriver or piece of metal to stop the nut spinning?

It will just split that bracket, it’s rusted too thin to be real brutal. As I said, you can grind it off flush from the outside, then get a chisel or something and hit it down (or up) there is only a couple of mm metal thickness to twist the remaining piece of bolt out of, it also helps to loosen the other side, so the roller bracket legs can move a bit when you hit the bolt. 

[Fab1]

5 hours ago, slowjigger said:

It can send you blind if you get it in your eyes. Totally reckless to use strong acid (throwing it around) without eye protection. 

Yep.I live on the edge.Don’t worry your delicate eyes are safe.

[slowjigger]

4 hours ago, Fab1 said:

Yep.I live on the edge.Don’t worry your delicate eyes are safe.

Uhm, everyone's eyes are delicate. 

[Marky mark]

On 8/16/2023 at 10:49 AM, noelm said:

It will just split that bracket, it’s rusted too thin to be real brutal. As I said, you can grind it off flush from the outside, then get a chisel or something and hit it down (or up) there is only a couple of mm metal thickness to twist the remaining piece of bolt out of, it also helps to loosen the other side, so the roller bracket legs can move a bit when you hit the bolt. 

That's the way I'd be doing it. First though I'd chuck the wire brush on the grinder and see if the bracket can be saved, hard to tell from a picture but it looks reasonably bad. If keen to try and salvage cut the bolt off, belt the nut out and grind/brush off as much as possible, couple of coats of phosphoric acid/rust converter and cold gal. To be honest (if you can get a welder) better to grind the whole thing off flush (saves having to much around getting the rest of the bold and nut out!), grind to try and find good steel and hopefully weld a new bracket on. Even the rust on the crossmember looks fairly deep, may need to cut off the other bracket as well, grind all the rusty area clean, hit with the converter and cold gal then butt weld a bit of 4mm plate over the top (butt welded so water can't get in between and rust again) of the entire area where both brackets were then weld new brackets to the plate. Done right and heavily col gal painted afterwards should last.

[Marky mark]

Looking at the photo again I reckon you'd save the cross member ok, just cut off the bracket, clean up, convert and reweld a new bracket then cold gal like crazy on everything.

[slowjigger]

8 minutes ago, Marky mark said:

That's the way I'd be doing it. First though I'd chuck the wire brush on the grinder and see if the bracket can be saved, hard to tell from a picture but it looks reasonably bad. If keen to try and salvage cut the bolt off, belt the nut out and grind/brush off as much as possible, couple of coats of phosphoric acid/rust converter and cold gal. To be honest (if you can get a welder) better to grind the whole thing off flush (saves having to much around getting the rest of the bold and nut out!), grind to try and find good steel and hopefully weld a new bracket on. Even the rust on the crossmember looks fairly deep, may need to cut off the other bracket as well, grind all the rusty area clean, hit with the converter and cold gal then butt weld a bit of 4mm plate over the top (butt welded so water can't get in between and rust again) of the entire area where both brackets were then weld new brackets to the plate. Done right and heavily col gal painted afterwards should last.

Sound good, though cold gal should be applied to bare metal, ie not over a rust converter. 

[Marky mark]

It won't harm the converted surface and will prime and protect the surrounding steel that has had the galvanizing removed due to grinding, welding etc. You can use a oil based paint instead but it won't like sticking to any bare metal around the edges of the job and doesn't help as much with rust protection whereas the cold gal will stick to anything and protects the bare metal better. With old gal trailers I'd be looking at trying to get fish oil over the top of everything and into hollow beams etc as much as possible as well. I used porr 15 once on an old gal trailer and it seemed to work ok but was a bit messy. Lanolin is good to use but doesn't last nearly as long as good old fish oil. Just don't park the boat near the bedroom window for a few weeks after applying, the missus was not impressed when she left the windows open on a warm summer night!!

[Bait_drifta]

4 hours ago, Marky mark said:

It won't harm the converted surface and will prime and protect the surrounding steel that has had the galvanizing removed due to grinding, welding etc. You can use a oil based paint instead but it won't like sticking to any bare metal around the edges of the job and doesn't help as much with rust protection whereas the cold gal will stick to anything and protects the bare metal better. With old gal trailers I'd be looking at trying to get fish oil over the top of everything and into hollow beams etc as much as possible as well. I used porr 15 once on an old gal trailer and it seemed to work ok but was a bit messy. Lanolin is good to use but doesn't last nearly as long as good old fish oil. Just don't park the boat near the bedroom window for a few weeks after applying, the missus was not impressed when she left the windows open on a warm summer night!!

 

4 hours ago, Marky mark said:

That's the way I'd be doing it. First though I'd chuck the wire brush on the grinder and see if the bracket can be saved, hard to tell from a picture but it looks reasonably bad. If keen to try and salvage cut the bolt off, belt the nut out and grind/brush off as much as possible, couple of coats of phosphoric acid/rust converter and cold gal. To be honest (if you can get a welder) better to grind the whole thing off flush (saves having to much around getting the rest of the bold and nut out!), grind to try and find good steel and hopefully weld a new bracket on. Even the rust on the crossmember looks fairly deep, may need to cut off the other bracket as well, grind all the rusty area clean, hit with the converter and cold gal then butt weld a bit of 4mm plate over the top (butt welded so water can't get in between and rust again) of the entire area where both brackets were then weld new brackets to the plate. Done right and heavily col gal painted afterwards should last.

I’v done all the rust conversion and used a good quality, epoxy paint to cover it all. Also done inside the cross members aswell. In the coming year or two I’m  going to get new bolt on cross members for the future. I need to remove the bolts to set the keel rollers up properly.

[XD351]

Looks like that bracket has been replaced once before , if it were my trailer i would cut it off , clean it all up and see how bad the rust in the crossmember  is then if it isn’t too bad weld a new bracket on . If the rust is bad then you could cut it out and weld in a plate . The way i have loosened those bolts before is to give the head of the bolt a belt with a hammer, this mushrooms the threaded end enough to get the post out and then i cut the head of the bolt  off and replace the lot .