broken bolts

[Pat]

Am tearing down an MC. Have never run into so many twisted off bolts ever. Seems like any bolt that went into cast has crystalized or weakened. Every bolt on the sod pan, fenders, etc. twisted off with a standard 3/8 or 1/2 rachet. with very little force applied. Of course you all know all the extra labor involved when this happens, even a couple of times. Is this MC a fluke, or have I just been lucky up till now?

[hunter41mag]

Pat,

Alot depends on where it was located in the past. I have a 1960 440IC and had broken bolts without even touching them. Than I proceeded to break many more removing the final drives to rebuild them. I was told by where I bought it from that it was originally from NJ. Mine sure seems that it was near the salt water by all the pitting and broken bolt problems.
I am making sure to use never sieze on most of the fasteners.

Don
Eastern PA
440IC

[jac]

You are learning some of the hidden problems with rebuilding these crawlers. My 440ICD was from Long Island, NY so was also near salt water. I had a very difficult time getting the final drives off and ended up cutting some bolts on one final drive. When working on the undercarriage, I ending up breaking all the bolts off on the bottom rollers. It turned out to be faster in the long run.

Everything went back together with Never Sieze or thread sealer so hopefully if I have to go back in to repair something, it should be much easier. I also replaced most of the bolts with new bolts. No use using old rusted bolts since you can not torque them correctly.