remove mudguards

popette

hi
trying to take mudguards off - I have a bolt/screw, whatever it's called, that has become rounded so my allen key is useless and tried with pliers to get off but that's stuck too. It's a bit rusty so I sprayed with GT ptf stuff, but it's still stuck. Any ideas?

Sorry if crap question - I've just done my mechanics course but still got lots and lots to learn

Cheers in advance
Karen

edited the bit out about the fork - realised I was moving it with the handlebar. I am losing it.

john-e-big-guns

Depending what tools you have there are several way to extract it ...1st I would try with mold grips...but if it well rusted and never been greased when fitted then 2nd would be to use a screw extractor

keef66

Give it a good squirt of WD40 and leave it to soak overnight. then try mole grips on the head of the thing, or better still, a small stilsson wrench (grips harder as you turn it)

You could try hammering a slightly larger star / torx bit into the rounded hex hole and turn that.

Could also try pouring boiling water over it in the hope that thermal expansion will free up the threads a bit.

Another last resort ploy is to file flats on opposite sides of the head so that you can grip / turn it with an adjustable spanner

failing that, as already suggested, you're looking at using a screw / stud extractor (or ask the LBS)

popette

cheers guys.
Will squirt it and have another go tomorrow. Just had to look up Mole Grip - I think I may have one of those.
Cheers again

ride_whenever

I would suggest different methods these work well for domed bolts that you cannot otherwise get a purchase on.

Firstly try an imperial allen key, they are often a touch larger so sometimes work with rounded bolts.

Then hammer in a torx bit (6 point star shaped jobby) these work pretty well too on rounded bolts

Drill it out from the inside with progressively larger bits (start as small as you can)

suze

Hi Popette

I'm curious why you're taking them off. :shock:

Just looking out of the office window here and ......I'm thinking you should be leaving them on

Mole wrench , pair of pliers.....squirt of wd40.....

keef66

never did get around to taking mine off for the summer, and looking at the rainfall radar I'll be glad of them tonight.

Might loosen and retighten all the bolts though, having read this!

popette

Hi Suze,
I know, it's normally time to start putting guards on isn't it?
I've decided that this old bike is going to be my turbo training bike :-) What a state its in! There are quite a few bolts/screws (what the hell are they called) with a bit of rust on. Should I be replacing all with rust? or can you just brush it off and then grease it a bit. Would I use copper grease or is teflon ok (I have teflon, don't have copper at moment).
Cheers
Karen

ride_whenever

Technically you should use coppaslip or some such anti-sieze compound. But grease will work fine.

Stellite

Might be worth giving the bolts a going over on your good bike too! 8)

As long as you check them regularly and apply any sort of grease to the threads they should be ok. If rusty brush the threads with a wire brush to clean the rust off.

crankycrank

popette wrote:

Hi Suze,
There are quite a few bolts/screws (what the hell are they called) with a bit of rust on. Should I be replacing all with rust? or can you just brush it off and then grease it a bit.
Cheers
Karen

You can find inexpensive stainless steel screws to replace all of your mudguard/rack screws to prevent headaches in the future and yes, grease all the threads when installing. It's a good idea to remove any rusted fasteners once a year and clean-grease the threads. It's not necessary to replace all the rusted bits that are the specialty, expensive types used to hold all of your groupset together though. As long as they are still functional they're fine.

suze

crankycrank wrote:

[You can find inexpensive stainless steel screws to replace all of your mudguard/rack screws to prevent headaches in the future and yes, grease all the threads when installing. It's a good idea to remove any rusted fasteners once a year and clean-grease the threads. It's not necessary to replace all the rusted bits that are the specialty, expensive types used to hold all of your groupset together though. As long as they are still functional they're fine.

Agree, stainless is the way to go...


.

a_n_t

john-e-big-guns wrote:

I would try with mold grips...

Sounds like something you'd serve cheese with

popette

a_n_t wrote:

john-e-big-guns wrote:

I would try with mold grips...

Sounds like something you'd serve cheese with

yeh, I didn't come up with much that made any sense when I googled Mold Grips

sicknote

I would get the iron out or if you have a a small kitchen torch and heat the head of the nut, then leave it to cool and try again.
It should now come off alot easier plus a good spray of WD40.

I have used this alot to get old screws and bolts out for years.

Plus try Screwfix for the new bolts

redvee

You have to resort to cutting a slot in the head of the bolt and use a flat bladed screwdriver to undo the stubborn bolt. I had to resort to this yesterday on a cheap screw on the minoura handlebar extrension thing I use for my light.

PS Good article in the latest C+ about your progress over the last year or so, you too can read abpout Karen's progress and setbacks.

keef66

So that's Popette is it? I'll have to read it all over again now.

popette

hiya
Yep, that's me. Glad you enjoyed the write up Redvee - it's certainly been a really amazing 18 months.

Well, I followed your advice re wd40 and mole grips and I have just managed to get the screw off - thanks you're all brilliant! Like that idea of cutting a groove and using the screwdriver - that would have been my next approach. When I looked in the tool box, I didn't have mole grips after all so that's another addition to the growing collection. I like having my own tool box.

8)

cheers
Karen

geoff_ss

My wife does a lot of her own maintenance but she has a solution when she gets a problem like that ... she wheels her bike into my workshop and threatens shortage of food if I don't fix it. I hate getting oil on my balsa so I apply brute strength as a substitute for female cunning and usually send her on her way rejoicing

Geoff

ride_whenever

I like cunning solutions. Iike using a headset press to hold a bb tool in place when the axles has come out of a sealed unit.

BigSpecs

Hi Karen,

After all these months of reading posts by Popette (and looking out for you at the EC '09 - red Felt? never saw ya...) I finally realise you are the girl from Team C+. Amazing what you find out on here...
Awesome work,

Col.