Warn M12000 issues

[ANZAC]

I took my Warn off the old bumper, two bolts were badly rusted in, and despite copious doses of Liquid Wrench and gentle use of impact wrench, I've got two broken off bolts in the cast Warn body piece.

Tonight I tried an easy out and succeeded in breaking a new big tap handle, and buggering up a couple of big wrenches .... still not coming out. I guess next step is to drill out and tap but pretty hard to ensure I stay centered and the old fasteners were Grade 8 so drilling them has been a major pain. One of them broke below the top surface, one about 1/4" above the top. I am going to yank on that one too but they are basically welded in there it seems.

Any ideas beyond drill and tap? The drum support piece is $435!
And the winch is kinda expensive to replace....

There are two sets of hole, the outer holes aren't threaded but seem to thread to 7/16 pretty easily. Are they to be tapped and used if you want to use 8 bolts to mount the winch?

Also, how do you clock the winch for foot mounting (Aluminess)? Just release the hose clamps and rotate solenoid, and then move one of the 3 chrome tie bars?

[jage]

Aluminess has an instruction sheet on clocking. Personally I don't think this is safe.

viewtopic.php?p=60918#p60918

It would also be a good thing to have on the wiki instead of buried in a thread.

[SheepShagger]

Originally Posted by ANZAC

Any ideas beyond drill and tap? The drum support piece is $435!
And the winch is kinda expensive to replace....

Heat is another option. If there is enough room, welding a new bolt onto the old bolt will usually generate enough heat to loosen the bolt and also give you something new/fresh to put a wrench on.

[Ford_6L_E350]

It might be cheaper to take it to a machine shop. Let them mount it on a milling machine and drill out the bolts with a carbide bit. They can center the drill and get it out safely.

Not something you can do with a handheld drill.

Mike

[ANZAC]

Originally Posted by SheepShagger

Heat is another option. If there is enough room, welding a new bolt onto the old bolt will usually generate enough heat to loosen the bolt and also give you something new/fresh to put a wrench on.

The Warn housing is some kind of soft cast metal and I am worried about putting too much heat near it. Machine shop might work, but I will need to strip the entire winch down to bare components.

[Ford_6L_E350]

Originally Posted by ANZAC

Machine shop might work, but I will need to strip the entire winch down to bare components.

Maybe not.

You still have a couple of holes that the bolts came out of. You could bolt the winch up to an angle plate with those holes and maybe a clamp or two. As long as you line up the broken bolts with an opening in the angle plate, you can drill through with a right angle head. Buy a left hand drill bit and you will be surprised.

Talk to the machine shop. A real machinist can be very creative if given the chance. Don't deal with someone who only programs a CNC, it has to be a machinist who does his own setups.

Mike

[Silver350]

Im guessing that the housing is aluminum and that it reacted with the steel bolt. Good place to use anti sieze next time.

In the one that is sticking out the top I would thread a nut onto it and rosette weld inside the nut. Put the ground clamp right on the nut and keep the wire or stick electrode on there till the nut is red, but don't get the rest of the bolt red because aluminum melts @ 1200F right about when steel gets red hot. Let it cool before trying to back it out. Assuming it is threaded in. If they pass through the hole heat the bolt till it is red on the end either by doing the above or heating it with a gas welding tip to keep the heat concentrated on the bolt. Then when it is cool, support the casting around the hole with a socket and pound it out using a punch. The heat should expand the bolt enough to crush the corrosion and loosen when it cools.

[jage]

Originally Posted by ANZAC

but I will need to strip the entire winch down to bare components.

Which you would need to do if you bought a replacement piece anyway.

Heat can be applied to break loose, apply it to one and not the other- not enough to weld but to get things expanding and contracting to loosen up those surfaces.... we are talking stuck bolts here and not welded studs?

[ANZAC]

True.

While I think the dissimilar metals didn't help things, everything was very rusty...

I can't apply heat to the one that is sheared below the outer face of the housing. I may just take a crack at drilling that out using my drill press. Rather than using the full tap size drill, I will step up slowly to ensure I don't drill out the threads. If I'm not on center I will stop stepping up.

I am continuining to soak everything in Liquid Wrench... I can apply some gentle heat to the bolt that is poking out.

I'm thinking about different shops I could take it to...

[Ford_6L_E350]

If you try to drill it out on the drill press, spend a couple dollars and buy some left hand drill bits. Heat from drilling may loosen the bolt, and then the bit can 'catch' and turn the bolt out.

Mike