Mechanical Martial Arts, And The Mastery Of Bolts 

One thing is for sure after almost 4 decades of turning wrenches...my hands aren't going to be used in a palmolive commercial.

Never known for his subtle driving, or writing, Cars Illustrated road tester Tony DeFeo had these words to say about the 1986 T-Type flogged in the August 1986 issue: “We quickly learned three things. 1) This car is fast-real fast. 2) You can’t just lay into it and expect it to react. You have to powerbrake it ’til she’s in boost and launch from there. 3) This is fun-a lot of fun. The kind of fun you want to have whenever another muscle machine is around. The kind of fun that gets you arrested, but you don’t care.”

Keep going with the removing stubborn fasteners tips. The quickest way for a young wrencher to get out of the hobby is being defeated by a roadblock like a rusty bolt

Scar material on our old man hands are impervious to pain. Not too many nerve endings that we haven't severed over the years.

I once had a damper bolt from hell... I tried everything, even had a good 1/2" impact on it. No Go. The engine rotation was in the "loosen direction" so with a 6 point impact socket and my toughest breaker bar, I wedged it up against a part of the frame. With the ignition disabled, I reached in the drivers seat window and hit the starter...BAM that bolt came loose as easy as pie. It wasn't hard on the starter system at all. However, I only recommend this when all else fails.

As a business owner and professional mechanic this video hits home. Every once in a while i find myself in a situation where to get to “that bolt” or get “that fastener loose” will result in blood to do it in a timely manner. You just grit your teeth and accept the challenge.

I typically just cuss at whatever i'm working on, it usually sorts it self out in the end, one of the neat traits that i inherited from my great grandparents.

If you wanna a more precise way to know when the temper changes on a steel bolt, heat it up till a magnet no longer sticks. Once it doesn't stick anymore then it's just past the point of tempering. Learned that from forged in fire.

When I see exhaust manifold bolts that are really rusty, they are going to break. Cut all the bolt heads off, slide the manifold off. This way you have a bunch of studs and you have a better chance of threading them out as opposed to snapping them off.

Right Hand Thread V.S. Left Hand Thread is also a nightmare when it's too late !!

I literally watched that video about loosening the fasteners with an open-end wrench yesterday and applied it today while removing my exhaust manifold, worked great actually!

Ceramic anti-seize is a blessing. The liquid evaporates away leaving a ceramic coating on high heat bolts. Don't even need to hit it with a penetrating oil to get it off.

Now I want a 80-90’s era movie training montage of UT showing us how to condition ourselves for wrenching! “No, you weak! Again! Again!”

You hit it in the head Tony, working on cars or motors is a never ending learning process. It's also a never ending opportunity to injure yourself. I have had burns, smashed knuckles, cuts, bruises and arthritis in the never ending process of learning how to do what I love. But remember, the day you stop learning is the day you start to die.

On rusty bolts that have a considerable amount of threads exposed on the other side of the nut I find like to break half way removed. Especially true on seat bolts or anything that bolts through the floor pan or under the car. With these I always take a wire brush or a wire wheel on a drill and clean as much rust and crud build up as possible and it usually works. This also helps if you don't want to muscle a bolt out till the very last thread.

I have been a mechanic on cars, trucks, boats and industrial machines for 45 years and I know a master when I see one. Tony is the real deal.

I'm a ford Fe guy. But can't help but listen. Thank you

When looking at any Rusty bolt or nut. First thing I do is spray it down with PB blaster, let it sit a few,then break out tools I used to use on the motorsickles the old impact driver's. Some times you just don't have room to get the hand up in there to strike it. But an extension on the impact driver tap tap and done. I also have a broken stud remover, which has paid for itself over the years.

Damper bolts come out fine with a breaker bar wedged against the frame and spinning the starter to loosen the bolt. It worked every time for me. I'm sure many use this method?

Being a gearhead means constantly knocking the bark off your knuckles.

Those hand held " whackem " impact tools used to work well for the Japanese YZ 80 I had as a youngster ( and my girlfriends 85 Subaru later ). Steel quality is everything regarding bolts. Same gf , 1988 Mercedes 190 2.6 , had that down to the short block and not one broken or stressed fastener. The 85 Subaru I would break bolts just by looking at them wrong. Many 354 and 392 Chryslers never broke anything either. My 1970 Pontiac T37 , broke any bolt I touched in stressed areas. I learned that " Kroil " stuff works , even if it's just my imagination.

I'm the guy that always goes and grabs a hammer to hit something rather than hit it with my hand. Like improperly lifting for 20 years really does bad on your body.

Standard issue with the original mini, skinned knuckles and cut hands. Part of the joy of working on an a series engine if joy is the word!! I'm sure I'm not alone with the battle scars from fitting the likes of a bypass hose!!

I find that cursing the bolt for half an hour or more works, then I start to loosen it by first spitting at it then whacking it with my head. This is a hand saving pro tip. Your welcome champs.

Great video Tony! Being a 30+yr machinist, I know a thing or three about metallurgy. Everything you said is 100% true! You kind of veered away from taking the temper out of the bolt with heat there for a minute, and I was afraid you might not circle back to the results. But, you did! Everything you shared here is 100% correct! (as usual! LOL) I just enjoy when I know as much about the subject matter as you do, and I'm over here like "yep! Correct! Damn straight! Kudos Tony!" Unlike when I am trying to tune my worn the 'eff out 50 year old 383 and pulling my hair out! LOL

Sometimes when I'm at the salvage yard pulling parts I make sure to get as many fasteners as I have time. Automotive grade fasteners are great quality and you can use them for all sorts of projects.

I’m actually in the process of surgically replacing my hands with pneumatic hammers. There’s more than one use, I assure you. I make bad financial decisions.

When I was growing up I had to learn from trial and error, I broke a bunch of tools and busted knuckles a lot. I wish I had had someone to share this knowledge with me when I was younger.

Am I the only one that called a bloody knuckle shortly before it happens? And still done it anyway.... Yes, We are hard on our hands but the nature of the work.

You couldnt be more on point about conditioning. I skateboarded for 20 years and my body could take a beating. Now i just feel like a took a beating.

I'm in Wisconsin so all rusty fasteners get penetrating oil treatment multiple times starting days or weeks in advance. And sometimes they are still seized 😖

Yes Sir, heating steel past a certain temperature definitely changes the temper of that steel, thus weakening it, or making it more brittle.

John Cadogan just did a couple of in depth vids about bolts, very interesting.

This is so true. I'm a 38 year old carpenter who only started working on cars about four years ago and I had pains I'd never felt before when I first started

congratulations on 200k subscribers tony and kathy ! still enjoying the channel 3 years later.

Over 50 years the toll that mechanical work took on my body was horrible ......... i wore myself out doing what i loved. At 65 i am now paying for my trade. I still do the work for myself , friends, and family but no where near the 40 to 80 hours a week i use to . Still enjoying my life's work as a hobby these days. Welding is now fun for friends and family too........still many smiles per mile!! Enjoying your down to earth approach to this wacky car world!! Keep up the good work!! Where did you spend your early years.....NY....NJ? You sound like you smartened up later in life too..... I moved from NJ to Virginia about three years ago......... a whole new world ........ great folks and I love working on machinery and equipment these days!! See ya tomorrow!!

When I was a young fella, I asked a mechanic how tight I should tighten bolts, ( I didn't have a torque wrench ) he said, " Well rough rule of thumb, is to keep tightening until you feel it start to strip, and then back it off a quarter turn. " Always did wonder how many actually did just that - I didn't luckily.

Screw the algorithm, I like the longer videos.

When dealing with older fasteners Tony offers time saving information witch is appreciated . Been working on my own Mocars for 45 years now and have learned something new today . Thank You Tony .

Tony, when I was about 16, an older gentleman told me to put a pint of dot3 in radiator and I wouldnt get rust on bolts or replace water pumps. Turns out he was a pretty smart guy. I used to do it in all my pre computer cars and never replaced a water pump or had bolts stick in water jackets.

Thanks UTG. Learned a lot of good stuff 👌. Just a hobbyist. So never really thought of why heating the bolt works, but now it makes sense (when and when not to heat)👍

I watched a documentary a few years ago about "Cubans" and their cars. They used a acetylene torch to heat around the bolt and then used compressed liquid to actually cool down the bolt to keep it from breaking as they removed it. These are all extremely rusty fasteners by the way and it seemed to work quite well. I've used an oxy acetylene torch quite a bit but never considered using cold to shrink what I was extracting.

"Every bolt is a spring". What a brilliantly simple but non-obvious observation. I wish I had thought of that myself. That's changed how I will look at fasteners from now on.

Here’s one more quick tip about removing stubborn bolts, or at least breaking them free, and this I found in the instructions on a can of Liquid Wrench in 1977, damn I’m old? After applying the release agent, let it sit for a few seconds then rap the head of the fastener with a hammer. I thought, why? This is to help dislodge the ‘seal’ of the rust and allow the penetrating fluid access to the inside! Well, this will actually work without the use of penetrating fluid. When striking the fastener you are effectively breaking the seal,allowing the wrench to work on the interference fit of the threads. Then a few more lite raps with the hammer will keep things loosened up. Just be careful not to damage the head of said bolt or treads where nut is supposed to come off of!

Threaded fastener madness, yep the bolt/screw stretches more or less to some degree. Some head bolts are to never be reused. Rod bolts are on the "iffy" side, again it depends. New nuts on internal engine stuff is always a wise choice. Blunt force trauma to the head of a bolt can work wonders... remember what hitting that lamp post with a baseball bat felt like? Great stuff Tony

I haven't heard of putting a socket on the bolt and hitting the socket. I always just hit the head of the bolt with a hammer to shock the threads loose. It works about half the time. The other half, the bolt breaks anyway

Incredible amount of knowledge you have Tony! Tks for sharing with such an entertaining way!

Heck yes UT that would be the difference between a baby handed "Technician" and us old school throw your hands at it mechanics. Not properly hitting with your hands can crush the carpal tunnel and cause issues eventually but it's just a little surgery repair lol.

My favorite bolt heater was the arc welder you can clip the ground on the part and touch the welding rod to the bolt and heat it up without the risk of burning stuff around the bolt (for example a wiring harness that's close by). A air chisel works awesome for shocking bolts free.

Uncle Tony is right about bolts that go through the head. I'm working on a Chrysler flathead and almost all the head bolts go through the head and into the water jacket. Broke 5 of them and getting them out was a hell of a job.

Uncle Squirrel will be along shortly to blame squirrels. LOL

Some applications(brake drums comes to mind) beating the part with a hammer causes the part to vibrate, breaking the rust seal. And for the studs in the center of the head bolt, you could just torch the nut off too. Leave the threads and don't even have to replace the stud. Of course you gotta be quick and precise so you don't overheat/damage the threads. But means you need a portable torch set and have a bit of experience with the torch. Not exactly backyard mechanical basics😉

I have Super Macho Kung Fu Ninja hands toughened by years of cracking coconuts while marooned on a desert island north of Bora Bora. But I use a hammer to rap on wrenches. It imparts a sharper impact to the fastener and preserves my stunning (and expensive) manicure.

I've always been bad about hooking two wrenches together for more leverage, I've also broken many ratchets and breaker bars using a pipe.😀

Awesome insight again! Thanks UT!

Great follow up vid here... I've been turning wrenches professionally and privately for over 20 years now and I'm always trying new methods and ideas for breaking bolts loose. There is no single sure-fire way to get all bolts loose, and there never will be, but Tony covered the main ideas here pretty well. The only thing I can think to add is that sometimes you can hit the head of the bolt directly with a hammer, as long as you don't distort the head so much that you can't get a wrench on it. I've found that with really rusty, stubborn bolts it helps to just tap on them with a hammer, you don't even have to hit very hard, just hit it a bunch of times while it's soaking in penetrating oil and it helps break the rust seal and get the oil to penetrate like it's supposed to.

Thanks for calling it a harmonic damper, not a balancer. Someone finally gets it right

A word from the wise o' great Sensei Tony!!

I have to use a rubber mallet nowadays due to carpal tunnel but still love the challenge of turning wrenches to repair my own vehicles, love your grass roots approach to solving "mysteries"

Literally just 3 days ago I used Tony’s suggestion to undo stubborn exhaust bolts in a junkyard.

"Heat it cherry red, then let it cool." I saw a guy on a gun forum asking how to get the barrel off the action, some wiseguy told him get a torch, heat it cherry red, and then she'll come right off. Next response, "Thanks for the tip, it worked." The wiseguy responds, "Oh, you didn't really do that, did you?" Because he ruined the temper on the gun and may very well have ruined it completely.

Whoever said you're going to destroy your health by smacking a wrench with your hand is a turd who must be terrified of breaking a nail. The real improper technique is trying to free stuck bolts in such a way that when it breaks loose your hand slams into something. It took me a long time to learn how to maximize torque while also maintaining control when the bolt releases. Broke my hand trying to pop the bolts on a differential when one of them came loose and propelled my fist into a sway bar. Working efficiently/confidently with your hands requires a great deal of finesse and dexterity which is often overlooked or simplified by people who do not do it for a living. I've also found that stuck bolts are largely an issue in areas that have cold winters (road salt). Also, older cars suffer from stuck bolts fare more often because the hardware was made with materials that were not as optimal as those used today. A good amount of the hardware on newer cars is made with alloys that resist corrosion a little better, or which are disparate from the materials they are clamping so that are not compelled to fuse with one another as they corrode. In incidents where I do encounter bolts/screws that are really stuck, ATF is the best for soaking. From my personal experience, it is not WD40, liquid wrench, etc etc. Just red ATF applied with a brush or drizzled on. Some people mix it with a little acetone to help with fluidity, but I have not experienced much difference in my own adventures. Of course there are also those times when you bust a nut trying to free a bolt, only to find out that the damn thing had red loctite.

Removing old fastener math: No matter if you need to remove two bolts/nuts or twenty bolts/nuts, you will find one that is not willing to give up the ghost and come out willingly like the others.

You can tell how long someone has been turning wrenchs daily by looking at their hands ,fingers and fore arms . Popeye fore arms leather palm and larger strong fingers+ scars . When they are just relaxing could hold a baseball without trying the fingers are naturally in that shape to hold it .

Good afternoon Tony I use to work at a gas station as a kid. People watching would freak out when I use to put hubcaps on with my hands. It's the way you hit it that matters. I always enjoy your videos. Take Care

One proceedure that I found to work well when breaking stubborn bolts loose is to heat them with a torch to a dull red. Then quench with a wet rag. Nine times out of ten they will come right out. The quench shocks the bolt head to break the rust seal. You have to use new bolts when putting things back together. With anti-seize of course.

Wow Uncle Tony I really learn more about the details about automotive repair than anyone I've learned from! I mean it, I really do Thank you!

Congratulations on 200k subs! Always great content! Thanks Uncle Tony!

OMG Tony. Spot on the exhaust bolts on those FE Ford's. I chisiled the heads off and rethreaded them. Used them like studs. (Well they're in there good and none of them are coming out. Plus it was an excuse to run headers. Seriously getting those bolts on the exhaust out on a 1965.

Using a 1/2" HD impact wrench daily for years will take it's toll too. I use the heel of my palm like a hammer all of the time. I have round handle ratchets and tools I'm comfortable doing this with. Square Craftsman style wrenches are terrible for this.

I can't believe people are complaining about the palm strike technique. Obviously from the weekend warrior types or the rank beginners. It doesn't take that much professional experience to begin to acclimate to the tough environment of the mechanic.

Great Video and advice! Replace problomatic exhaust manifold bolts with brass studs or bolts or even stanless steel for an upgrade.

Hi Tony, I would like to watch a video where you explain having a access good oxy acetylene is a must when diving deep into projects. Why a torch is so helpful What size of system is best ( weekends) aka tank size and hose length What torches are needed? Cutting, rose bud, etc. Also welding with gas would be interesting too. Us young guys don’t know anything about torches besides that they exist and are better than map gas

A guy I was working with ended up with Raynaud's syndrome in his hand after over 30 years of working as a mechanic by using his hand in that manner, (no not everyone will get this) but unfortunately as you get older no matter how "conditioned" your body is in, age creeps up and you end up with a multitude of of injuries over the years from these repetitive movements... I've seen this time and time again in older and some younger guys 😕

You better get Plan Z ready... See ya in Sikeston, Mo. Sunday... ✌😎

Just keeping it simple and FUN YOU GOTTA HAVE FUN MAN !!

We used to use oil of wintergreen (Methyl salicylate) to loosen studs that served as the "head bolts" on nuclear reactors and manhole covers on steam generators. The mechanics swore it was better than any other penetrant. And it smelled like a lifesaver candy. It was a critical application, because if you couldn't get the stud out you had to drill it out, with a downtime cost of a million dollars a day, and worst case you trashed a multi-billion-dollar reactor. fun times. Those guys who did the mechanical work on the big nukes were the best of humanity, and I am honored to have known them. .

Great explanation from our side of the fence UT! great vid man!

Another thing you get once you've been working a long time on things and fighting with rusted fasteners is, you really get a feel for when a bolt is about to break. So you can back off and try something else. Unless your goal is to snap it off so you can weld a nut on there.

anytime I have bolts that their threads are in the path of coolant inside the engine I use fastenal's grade 8 bolt with the anti rust coating . I use a hand held propane torch blue or yellow bottle to heat the bolts up enough to losen it but not lose its strength .

I love bolts, New ones can be exiting. Great 👍 video thx!

I'm 26 but live in NYS, you learn all this and then some by the time you're 20 if you worked on cars growing up! Lol. Great videos on bolt loosening! I can confirm all of it works.

Time saving tip that this video reminds me of. If your ears are still good. If you want to find things you lost by setting them down someplace earlier. Start not by wondering where or looking. Start by closing your eyes and intending to remember the sound of the item being set down. Listen first, look second. It does not make sense until you do it.

I will also add that hitting frozen brake bleeder screws also works well. The trick is you need a deep socket that bottoms on the bleeder screw hex before it touches the caliper or wheel cylinder so the inward blow goes into the bleeder screw. A little heating and a touch with a candle can also help with these cursed bleeders. ~ Old Butcher

My Dad started wrenching when he was 13, now he's in his 70s and has had both shoulders replaced. He can't even flick a fishing pole anymore. He retired working on huge diesel engines (big enough to stand in the cylinder). All the guys in his shop all had the same problems.

I've always used a hammer & wrench to break bolts and nuts loose. The only time I tighten them is when they don't want to break loose. Doesn't always go the way you plan and I couldn't tell ya how many bolts and studs that I have broken over the many years that I have been turning wrenches. Personally, I like to blame the previous person that touched the nuts or bolts. LOL

I built scaffolding in the NSK factory in Japan. Not a computer in site. All oldschool lathes with only a few CNC lathes. All recording written by hand on the hour checks. That was 2004. Manually precise. Badass people.

Tightening the bolt also rotates it ever so slightly releasing the locked contact between the interlocked threads. Even a degree of rotation helps the loosening. Bit like cleaning a crusty bolt thread by tightening a nut up the entire length of it

Great video Tony👍. I've been binging your videos here lateley. I'm 40 and I've liked cars since a kid but really got into hot rods and anything mechanical in the early 90's. My bibles were car books and magazines from that era. I read them over and over trying to absorb all the info I could. I was always interested in budget hot rodding and budget tech. Like you, I'm in to old school tech and the satisfaction of working on analog technology. Nowadays the only mag subscription I have is HR magazine but I'm not renewing it. I don't connect with most of the stuff in it these days. Sure LS, Coyotes, Hemis, and the high tech stuff that goes with them are engineering marvels but I like to stick with the simple pleasure of setting up a carb, adjusting timing with a light, not a computer. Seeing one of your videos come out is like the feeling I used to get when a new magazine showed up on the newstands when I was younger. Thx for that. Keep them coming!

I’m going to be 50 years old. I worked on everything all my life. I grew up on a farm. Papa. Showed. Me the Palm hammer. I was about nine -year-old to loosen the tire on my bicycle. To get a chain back on. By myself. He said just hit it with your palm a little bit Best trick in the world. Works great on spark plugs. Too Break bleeders. Back to work-:).

👍🏾👊🏽 thank you Unc Tony great information

Great as always

Totally agree on acclimating your body. Welder, machinist, all around fabricator by day, all around handy man the rest of the time. My hands are strong and tough with calluses. They don't hurt either they're conditioned to work.

I like your style brother. I think people may be surprised to know exactly what we were designed for.

As a life-long mechanic (I'm 62 now,still working)most all of your info is "spot-on".I love your channel!But, a bolt is not a spring,though they can and often do have spring like qualities. A bolt is an inclined plane wound helically around a shaft. Keep up the good work!

After 20 years as a mechanic I can honestly say my back hurts way more than anything else . I learned that good work boots are worth it

Oh yeah....I've found that CRC Freeze Off can get you going again if the hot wrench isnt available or you shouldnt use the hot wrench where you are working :)

Good thinking Tony, No one else is talking about this. Tensile stretch is overlooked, I wonder what are ARP thinking with their solid head bolts studs, ill never know.

Force works best when you use a little finesse. For example, rusty brake lines. I've never had any luck tightening them first. What works for me is a good snug-fitting flare nut wrench and giving it a short, sharp shock in the loosening direction. It doesn't work every time, but then, what does?

Love to see a video on installing a old school tack