Hey gang,

Here's the deal:
Trying to remove a WARN (manual locking) Hub on my 91 F150, being held in by 6 bolts. Using a Black and Decker power drill with 3 E-Z out bits, of the 6 bolts that hold the hub in place, 1 has come out easily, the other 5 are frozen in tight. 4 of the 5 are stripped, 2 of which have broken drill bits stuck in them from previous attempts, and the 5th I'm carefully working on freeing.

I've been using both PB and AeroKroil which have helped, but given the design of the hub housing and the holes where the bolts go, the angle won't easily allow the oils to get in there to loosen things up. I recently started using a heat gun in addition to the drill and PB/Kroil work.

I'm willing to consider torch work, but only as a last resort. Everything (down to the nuts and bolts) is getting replaced as I go, so I don't care if I have to destroy the existing bolts/parts. I just want to get the hubs off to get at the primary objective: The ball-joints.

Any ideas on how to deal with stripped/stubborn hub bolts? I'll entertain anything.

Thanks a ton as always!
-91HT

 

man one time i drilled the heads off the screws... and then used a hammer to get the lockout off ... and then used visegrips to back the screws out... had to drill and retap one on one side... there a pain in the rump sometimes