Rusty nuts

[Condor]

This was sent to me by a friend this morning and thought it was worth passing on.

 

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ba2_1475277076

[Flyinfool]

Sounds like a problem of old age and lack of use.

 

It did not look like he ever got the nut hot enough to melt the wax.

The heat traveling around the nut from the flame was enough to melt the wax that then dripped onto the threads and solidified almost instantly.

Just the fact that he mentions that he broke his torque wrench trying to loosen the nut tells me he is not a wise mechanic, AND if he did actually break a breaker bar trying to loosen that nut, then he was doing something wrong, a 1/2 inch breaker bar should have easily snapped off that little stud long before the wrench broke. I have snapped 3/4 inch grade 5 bolts that had welded into the hole using a 1/2 drive breaker bar (and some pipe).

[WildBill1]

I wouldn't touch this title with a monkey wrench.

[Condor]

Sounds like a problem of old age and lack of use.

 

It did not look like he ever got the nut hot enough to melt the wax.

The heat traveling around the nut from the flame was enough to melt the wax that then dripped onto the threads and solidified almost instantly.

Just the fact that he mentions that he broke his torque wrench trying to loosen the nut tells me he is not a wise mechanic, AND if he did actually break a breaker bar trying to loosen that nut, then he was doing something wrong, a 1/2 inch breaker bar should have easily snapped off that little stud long before the wrench broke. I have snapped 3/4 inch grade 5 bolts that had welded into the hole using a 1/2 drive breaker bar (and some pipe).

 

Sooo.... Did you try it or are you just naturally negative about everything?? Personally the pain would be hard to bear....

[Flyinfool]

I have not tried it.

My nuts have never gotten rusty, or stuck, they have always been off regularly.

 

It is just the engineer in me leaking out. I am not negative about everything but when the explanation does not agree with the result, my poor little brain thinks something is not right. Just one of the curses of being an engineer and trying to always look at things logically.

 

But now you made me go and do a test.

I took a lighter to a lug nut on my truck for the same 20 seconds as shown in the video. Using a digital thermometer the the temperature of the lug nut went up 23.3°F. (Starting temp of nut 72.3°F ending temp 95.6°F) I did not have a candle to handy to work with but I just can not see how this would have made a difference with that little of a temp change and I do not think it was hot enough to melt a stick candle.

In watching the video over a few times, when he shows that the nut is tight and he can not get it off, he does in fact accidentally loosen it a bit, watching it full screen on my big monitor I can clearly see a slight movement. The nut does not get hot enough to melt the wax it is the flame of the lighter that is touching the wax that is melting the wax which then drips onto the threads and solidifies instantly with contact.

 

In the interest of science I tried it again with the flame on the lighter turned up as high as it would go (Initial was a 1 inch flame) with the test rerun using a 4 inch flame, much bigger than the video. Starting temp was 72.8°F ending temp after 20 seconds, 101.6, a gain of 28.8°F. Still not hot enough to melt candle wax. Per info from a candle making supply companies website, Candle wax begins to soften at 130°F and is fully liquid for pouring at 190°F, depending on the additives used.

 

I'm sorry, But through some logical testing and measurement, I believe this actually works even less than I did before.

 

But now my curiosity has been peaked, I have to see if I can find some lug nuts (or any nuts) that are rusted on.

Melted wax does have a fairly low viscosity and it is slippery so if the nut was actually up to the melting point of the wax it may possibly penetrate and make it come off easier. Just not as easy as this staged video represents.

[Karaboo]

Save the wax for your zipper. If it gets on your nuts, you used too much.

[YamahaLarry]

Save the wax for your zipper. If it gets on your nuts, you used too much.

 

 

Funny you say that, but I did learn a trick last week with wax and zippers. If you have an old jacket, jeans or whatever that has a stubborn sticky zipper, you can simply rub it with a crayon or candle and it will cure it most of the time.

 

As far as using a bic lighter and a candle on a rusty lug nut (or any rusty nut I guess), I am sorta like Flyinfool. I just can't see there be high enough temp to get the wax to melt to down in between the threads. But I am curious enough now to try to find a rusty nut/bolt and experiment.