Small heat gun/torch

[duke63]

Anybody got any recommendations? Useful to have to free off seized bolts, which is what i currently need one for.

I have got a paint stripper/heat gun already. Would that be OK to use or not?

[Deegee]

I doubt it, you can give it a try all the same, the problem is that if you're using heat you should heat the part with the female thread up reasonably quickly so it expands and breaks the corrosion between it and the bolt, but not using so much heat as to either damage the surface you're heating or change the properties of the material. In my experience it's difficult to get sufficient heat fast enough from either a blow lamp or a heat gun, hence oxy-acetylene or oxy-propane is used in industry. The other problem using heat is that it will dry any freeing oil you may have used out of the thread and may make the thread even more difficult to remove.

A good ploy is to heat the outer and use a freezing spray on the bolt so one expands and the other contracts. Certain metals will seize together almost permanently, stainless in stainless threads can gall and almost fuse together and any ferrous based metal in aluminium based alloys are a swine to remove and often require one or the other to be sacrificed.

One other word of advice, on reassembly don't use copper slip with aluminium, it can cause a galvanic reaction in wet and salty conditions and the alloy can be dissolved (like ships anodes), a regular heavy lithium grease is fine instead or if you really need an anti-seize I'd use a graphite grease.

Hth. DG

[duke63]

Cheers, deegee.

I suspect i am going to have to replace the ride height adjuster.

The ball joints either end are seized solid ( as per the photo) and stopping the adjusting bar in between from moving. I guess after 15 years with no movement its expecting a little too much for them to move freely.

[Perkles]

I use a plumbers blow torch that you can get refill cans from most diy places