quote:

Originally posted by drendean:
He he he. Been there, done that. Making the problem worse is what I seem to do best.

I've got some of the Sears rounded nut helpers. I'm sure gonna try those next time.

Splitting the nut either with a chisel or with a series of holes drilled has worked in the past. The dremel option seems a good one, too. I have tried that on some seriously rusted/corroded exhaust nuts.

Anti-seize compound is my best friend.

You can also file/dremel two opposing sides of hex and use a regular old adjustable wrench on them.

I've taken a dremel and ground down a rounded 18mm nut until a 17mm socket fit and worked.

If it isn't a high torque nut and enough room, clamping on a set of vise grips may work.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Bought a set of spline sockets many years ago. Haven't had one I couldn't get loose since then.

I'll try a couple. Do you go down a size to get a rounded bolt of?

Yup, each spline size is in increments of 1/32 of an inch. Spline sockets are used in the aviation industry. Thirty or so years ago, these could only be found on the $nap-on truck. Now they can be found most anywhere. I don't use them to get bolts my sockets won't turn, I used them to replace the sockets entirely. Later I was able to swing some spline wrenches in to the mix. They will work on 6 point, 12 point, square, drum, and spline hardware. Have used them with a 24" ratchet for as long as I've had them and haven't split one yet.

this guy has the right idea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DEdq2WdFnU

When some bolts are helplessly rounded out, I've actually resorted to welding another bolt on top of the rounded out one. Comes off easy then provided you have the room (and the welding equipment of course).

Its unfortunately completely common in my life of agricultural and farm equipment. You didn't mention the size as that matters a bit. Tool choice will really dictate your plan. First choice if you have access to them is a socket designed for this problem. Spray with penetrating lube, heat the snot out of it pound on the right size socket and turn it off. If you don't have a removal socket set and the fastener is small you can give it a go with vice grips, but the penetrating oil and heat are still your friends. If that doesn't work then you have to assess your tool choices and the work space. Given space and portable grinder I would just grind it off next. If that's not possible you can alternatively just drill the end of the fastener out and then break it off. If those are not possible you can burn it off. Or as suggested above weld another nut on. But mostly I don't think we are trying to rescue any parts so just destroy it. I don't know what's on the other side of the bolt but sometimes you can get lucky and get the bolt to break without any other action. Take a decent air or battery impact gun and tighten the bolt, it may fracture.
I hate mower decks, just fyi.

Am I missing something. It’s a rounded nut. What about good old vice grips?

Suggested several times above. Low cost, low risk but also low success suggestion.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
Suggested several times above. Low cost, low risk but also low success suggestion.

Yes, tried with no success.

Bolt is off. Repeat, bolt is off.

There are sockets designed to bite into stripped out bolts. They only remove the bolts. They are a bit pricey. I bought them at sears before but Autozone might have them.

When I had my small engine shop, I used a gator grip socket. Worked every time. Everyone should have one in their tool box.



https://www.amazon.com/Profess...cation/dp/B00008K2TF

 
A nut splitter tool is a handy thing to have in your tool box. They're not expensive, and they almost always split the nut for removal before any threads are damaged on the male part.
 
Nut splitter.