46 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I use a Halfords Advanced set...it's me, not the tools.  

12 point sockets then? 

Nope, some are in the kit but I always use 6pt ones on anything that looks like it'll round.  Usually spray a bit of plusgas before attempting as well.

Not really sure why it happens so often lol, genuinely don't think I'm doing anything wrong!  I should add it doesn't happen on the low miler Focus though...it's just older/high miler/ruined by previous owner stuff where it happens.

10 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Nope, some are in the kit but I always use 6pt ones on anything that looks like it'll round.  Usually spray a bit of plusgas before attempting as well.

Not really sure why it happens so often lol, genuinely don't think I'm doing anything wrong!  I should add it doesn't happen on the low miler Focus though...it's just older/high miler/ruined by previous owner stuff where it happens.

its definitely you then  

I done a job a couple of weeks ago now for my mate, front wheel bearing on his mk1 focus. So he brought the car round and we started stripping it down. He had dropped off a set of steering knuckles to me previously to change the bearings in so we could just simply swap them over when he come round again..Took out the knuckle and shock in one piece. pinch bolt was already rounded and only getting worse so we heated the area up and tried again, still wouldn't budge but by this time the head was completely shot. so I used a 500mm 1/2 ratchet and extractor while he held the shock - no danger could he hold the force of me trying to undo the bolt. so plan C then, extractor in the milwaukee impact gun (max breakaway torque on them is 1491Nm), whipped the bolt out in a flash. Needless to say we did get another bolt and replaced it. 

Yeah I don't have any heat, that would probably help tbh.

But it would also help if people didn't over-tighten and/or round things before I get to them.  I much prefer working on newer cars that no-one else has buggered up before I get to them lol!  

 

That said, we do occasionally have some odd issues on more modern stuff.  Mates rear caliper had seized yesterday after only recently changing the pads and discs...but somehow so had the carrier bolts when I tried to remove it, I torqued them to spec literally a few months back!  Combination of driving through the recent floods and the fact he drove hundreds of miles home with the seized caliper putting tonnes of heat through them I assume, but was not expecting it at all.  That was a complete waste of time though as the caliper is so far gone he needs to buy another, but needed to use the car today so we had to put it back together just as bad as it was beforehand lol.  Just annoys me when stuff that should be simple nuts and bolts goes wrong and takes hours to rectify.  

6 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Yeah I don't have any heat, that would probably help tbh.

But it would also help if people didn't over-tighten and/or round things before I get to them.  I much prefer working on newer cars that no-one else has buggered up before I get to them lol!  

 

That said, we do occasionally have some odd issues on more modern stuff.  Mates rear caliper had seized yesterday after only recently changing the pads and discs...but somehow so had the carrier bolts when I tried to remove it, I torqued them to spec literally a few months back!  Combination of driving through the recent floods and the fact he drove hundreds of miles home with the seized caliper putting tonnes of heat through them I assume, but was not expecting it at all.  That was a complete waste of time though as the caliper is so far gone he needs to buy another, but needed to use the car today so we had to put it back together just as bad as it was beforehand lol.  Just annoys me when stuff that should be simple nuts and bolts goes wrong and takes hours to rectify.  

yup but unfortunately we can't always have it that way haha. 

do you mean, a 5 minute job....

Lol, nothing is a five minute job...I usually say 'about an hour'...and then end up like this...  

13 hours ago, Bobr said:

 Stilons are not like mole grips.   The more torque you put on stilsons the tighter they grip.   I'm sure they would work.

 

These are Stilsons

Has Bob says they are nothing like Mole Grips..

 

The more pressure you put on these the more they dig in and grip,, problem with Mole Grips is they only dig in as much as you can squeeze them together and if the nut is tight they will never undo it..

 

You can get plenty of leverage with them too so you don't have to be overly strong..

 

Stu

I had one of your sump plugs today Tom on a Citroen, it didn't want to play ball! 

Guessing it was a newer Citroen?  The older ones have a huge plug, 21mm iirc, with an 8mm square in the centre...even I haven't managed to ruin one of those yet!  

I did once (unknowingly) damage the threads on a tight one on removal though...first oil change I did for a mate...it then fell out a few days later dumping all his oil on the road...and he carried on driving as he didn't want to miss the start of the film he'd booked at the cinema lol.  Amazingly it was fixed with just a new plug and fresh oil!

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Guessing it was a newer Citroen?  The older ones have a huge plug, 21mm iirc, with an 8mm square in the centre...even I haven't managed to ruin one of those yet!  

I did once (unknowingly) damage the threads on a tight one on removal though...first oil change I did for a mate...it then fell out a few days later dumping all his oil on the road...and he carried on driving as he didn't want to miss the start of the film he'd booked at the cinema lol.  Amazingly it was fixed with just a new plug and fresh oil!

nope, one of the older ones it was lol. Yes it is an 8mm hex centre with 21mm outer hex. 

lmao he was lucky then!  

I would use a vacuum system to get the oil out this time to buy some more time, I would suggest getting someone to weld another nut onto the thing to then use that to remove it. Another idea could be to use a file to create a good flat on each side of the bolt and then use a smaller socket to remove it?

Also, have you tried some 'shock and unlock' at all?

Bit late to the party David!  

It's been done, sucked the old out, swapped the filter (easiest filter change ever on these lol) and chucked the new stuff in.  Too much hassle to get it removed atm, that's bought me another 10k miles lol, don't expect I'll still have it in a year anyway.

Yes I did use shock and unlock, as well as plusgas.  Pretty impressed with the shock and unlock tbf, for cheap Halfords stuff it does a pretty good job!

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Bit late to the party David!  

It's been done, sucked the old out, swapped the filter (easiest filter change ever on these lol) and chucked the new stuff in.  Too much hassle to get it removed atm, that's bought me another 10k miles lol, don't expect I'll still have it in a year anyway.

Yes I did use shock and unlock, as well as plusgas.  Pretty impressed with the shock and unlock tbf, for cheap Halfords stuff it does a pretty good job!

HA sorry about that! Yeah I know that the shock and unlock stuff is pretty good, I tried it out a while back just to see if it actually works, really good stuff, managed to undo a nut which was basically just a blob of rust lol