That time a collet nut seized on me at 3am in Detroit and I had to learn how to heat shrink it on the fly

I was running a late night rush job at a shop near the old Packard plant, and when the nut wouldn't budge after an hour of wrenches and PB Blaster, I grabbed a propane torch from the maintenance closet and carefully heated just the nut while the spindle was still warm from a short cycle, and it finally popped loose without damaging the threads has anyone else had to improvise like that in a pinch?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephmartin1d agoProlific Poster

Oh man, that sounds like a REAL situation right there. I gotta gently correct you on one thing though - if the spindle was still warm from a short cycle, you probably didn't need the torch at all. The heat from the spindle running would have already expanded the nut a bit. But I get it, when you're in a panic at 3am in Detroit, you grab whatever you can find. I've been there where the adrenaline makes you forget the basics. Still though, props for getting it done without trashing the threads or the spindle. That's a win in my book.

olivia3981d ago

Man, sometimes you just gotta do what works in the moment. Heat's heat whether it's from a cycle or a torch, and you got the job done without breaking anything. That's what counts.

uma_taylor471d ago

Did you have to deal with a frozen bolt on the side of the road in the cold too? I spent an hour under my old truck last winter with a butane torch and a socket, and it was the only thing that worked. @josephmartin you're probably right about the spindle heat, but when your fingers are numb and you're cussing up a storm, you grab the first thing that makes sense. At least you didn't snap the bolt off like I did once, that turns a quick job into a whole weekend project.