Is propane good enough for heating stuck bolts?

[bradleyheathhays]

About to take out the leaf springs on the old XJ and I've spent a couple weeks now heating the bolt heads with propane and soaking in PB before I start in on em. I'll spend like 5 mins or more a bolt just heating right on it but it still doesn't seem like it gets the thing hot all the way through. It never does get close to red hot. Is propane gas hot enough? The MAP/PRO stuff only gets like 150F hotter so it'd hardly be worth it specially since it costs 3x more.

 

[k-2]

most often its where the bolt passes thru the bushing that seizes, the bolt on the center sleeve, And well insulated.

Wont know for sure till we try, I get spoiled shop air, cut off wheels, and acetylene -

But you have done the prelims - give it a try.

 

[bradleyheathhays]

Yeah thanks. I've seen a vid where a guy got the bolts started out then used a pickle fork and vice grips to pry the bolt the rest of the way out of the bushing.

I'm prob mostly concerned with getting the rear upper shock bolts out. Of course only the heads are exposed and the bar pin on the shock blocks getting any PB too much up in there. Guess we'll see.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

MAP gas is hotter and easy to use. getting the bolt glowing with fast cooling should help.