Rod Shifter Stabalizer Bolt?

[mtxsho94]

On Friday evening the linkage for the rod shifter in my '94 MTX broke. To even begin to see what I need to do to fix this, I need to remove the rod shifter assembly from the car. No problem- except for one thing; the stabilizer bolt. It just won't budge. I've tried PB blasting (the exposed head doesn't look rusted at all), heating (for 20 minutes with a MAPP gas tourch) and as a last resort- an impact gun. Nothing seems to be able to do anything. I tried doing a search and haven't found anyone who has had problems getting it out, just people missing the bolt/stripped the bolt/broken the boss on the trans. Some of the treads seems to reference this bolt as having a 17 mm head but mine is a 19 mm head...could someone else have damaged this in the past and that is the source of my problem? Is there something I can try that might 'total' the bolt but at least get it out of the trans??? I've spent the past 3 days trying to break this lose and have had no luck at all and my patience is wearing thin.

 

[techi14]

use a big ass 3ft+ bar as leverage, should break just about anything loose.

 

[revhardSHO]

Could have been JB welded in place, if thats the case you might have serious problems. What kind of impact gun did you use?

 

[SuperHO]

Wow...yours is stuck in and mine won't stay in if my life depended on it. I think I may be jealous....

 

[mtxsho94]

I'd love to try the 3ft bar as leverage but man is that going to take some work to get it high enough in the air to pull that off.

The impact gun is a chicago pnumatic 1/2" model 740, exact specs I couldn't tell you and its not listed on cp's website. Its an older model. I've never heard of the term PB welded but I'm going to guess it has to do with the PB getting burnt off and the heat melting the metal? If so...yeah, that would really ruin my day. I'm not inclined to say that would be the case since there was over 24 hrs from the application of the PB to the application of heat.

 

[revhardSHO]

I'd love to try the 3ft bar as leverage but man is that going to take some work to get it high enough in the air to pull that off.

The impact gun is a chicago pnumatic 1/2" model 740, exact specs I couldn't tell you and its not listed on cp's website. Its an older model. I've never heard of the term PB welded but I'm going to guess it has to do with the PB getting burnt off and the heat melting the metal? If so...yeah, that would really ruin my day. I'm not inclined to say that would be the case since there was over 24 hrs from the application of the PB to the application of heat.

No, no, you missread. I said JB welded. Thats an epoxy compound that forms an extremly strong cohesive bond. IE, the original bolt may have been stripped out and the previous owner could have fixed it by "JB welding" it in place, so to speak.

 

[mtxsho94]

No, no, you missread. I said JB welded. Thats an epoxy compound that forms an extremly strong cohesive bond. IE, the original bolt may have been stripped out and the previous owner could have fixed it by "JB welding" it in place, so to speak.

Ah, makes more sense . I have been wondering if there was some sort of chemical agent locking the bolt into place. I'm not sure if there is a correlation between CP's old part numbers and their new ones but the 7740 (mine is a 740) is listed as a max of 500 and 350 useable.

 

[SHOtime2511]

use a big ass 3ft+ bar as leverage, should break just about anything loose.

X2
this will either break the bolt loose,strip the bolt or worse case break the boss on the trans case.

 

[doclees]

I thought JB weld has a melt point between 500 and 600 degrees. Wouldn't the MAP gas torch have melted it free?

 

[SHOtime2511]

I thought JB weld has a melt point between 500 and 600 degrees. Wouldn't the MAP gas torch have melted it free?

yes it would,but it will also start melting the trans case too

 

[SASHO91]

I don't think the case would start to melt.

 

[SHOtime2511]

the problem with mapp gas is that it burns @ around 3500 degrees with standard torchs.and much hotter when mixed with oxygen!
and with Aluminum alloys it Dosn't give you any temperature indication as steel does & will just collapse if it gets too hot.

 

[mtxsho94]

and with Aluminum alloys it Dosn't give you any temperature indication as steel does & will just collapse if it gets too hot.

Problem solved! oh, wait-- I want to keep the trans...darn

 

[SASHO91]

Ah. I did not know they burned so hot.


Just heat the bolt with a propane torch, then hit it with the impact.

 

[SHOtime2511]

Ah. I did not know they burned so hot.


Just heat the bolt with a propane torch, then hit it with the impact.

Propane is plenty enough for this job.

 

[itwonder]

Ah. I did not know they burned so hot.


Just heat the bolt with a propane torch, then hit it with the impact.

Actually, heat the transmission case. The Al has a greater rate of expansion than the steel bolt and doing that will loosen the joint It will also break down any locktite that may have been used. Propane torch is plenty of heat.

 

[SASHO91]

I was implying, to hit the bolt to melt the JBweld (if any was present- which I doubt). But yes, you'll want to hit the case so that it expands away from the bolt. This also will not affect the bolt (i.e making it brittle aka. snapping) as much.

 

[mtxsho94]

I came in this evening to try and free the bolt. I put the 1/2" ratchet on the bolt and gave it a medium force turn and the bolt started turning like it was nothing. I have no idea what happened over night to cause this but :woohoo:

When I had applied the heat before posting, I had been heating the transmission case w/o any movement in the bolt. Now to do this all over again on my '92 parts car to get the rod shifter out of that one and get this car back on the street (well, maybe not...I might throw my SHO Shop Y-Pipe and Cat Back on the car first)

 

[shoon]

heh, maybe you just didn't eat your Wheaties that day!

glad to hear you solved your problem and everything worked out.

 

[SHO92]

Glad you got it out.