That trick with a heat gun and a stuck flywheel bolt really saved my '78 F150

I spent like three days beating on this one rusted bolt on the bell housing, then my uncle said to hit it with a heat gun for 10 minutes and it came loose with a regular wrench. Has anyone else had luck with heat on those old Ford powertrain bolts?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_kai2d ago

That heat gun trick is the real deal. I remember my old '76 F250 had a bell housing bolt that was just frozen solid, no amount of PB Blaster would touch it. I had a similar uncle who told me to heat it up for a good 10-15 minutes, and just like you said, it spun right out with a regular box end wrench. Those old Ford powertrain bolts from the 70s are notorious for galvanic corrosion, especially between the aluminum bell housing and steel bolts. I've found that a propane torch works even better than a heat gun for the really stubborn ones, but a heat gun is safer around fuel lines and wiring. Now it's the first thing I try before getting out the breaker bar.

kai4632d ago

My buddy Carl had a '77 F150 that he sank a whole weekend into trying to get the crank pulley bolt off. He had the breaker bar and a pipe on it, cussing up a storm. I told him to try my propane torch and heat the bolt head for maybe 5 minutes, no joke it came loose with just a socket and a ratchet. He still talks about that day like it was some kind of miracle.