Saving the Hardware

[rgus]

I have an origional set of wooded racks for my Ben Hur trailer. The wood is dried out, cracked and splitting and I want to replace it. The hardware I want to save, blast and repaint. Because everything is staked on and the carrage bolts just turn in the old wood I am having problems removing it. Any ideas from folks that have done it before?

[Bill_Wolf]

I had the same problem with my wood bodied Ben Hur. I tried to sacrifice the rotted wood to save the bolts but in the end too many twisted and snapped to be useful.

It ended up that I had to purchase all new bolts. I used www.boltdepot.com to buy in bulk and save some $$$$

Bill

[rgus]

I really never had any intention of saving the bolts and nuts, they are just too far gone, I wanted to save the specialty hardware. I bought all new in stainless steel from McMaster Carr.

[Bill_Wolf]

I really never had any intention of saving the bolts and nuts, they are just too far gone, I wanted to save the specialty hardware. I bought all new in stainless steel from McMaster Carr.

Then it should be easy.

I used a combination of a die grinder, cut-off wheel, and bolt cutters to get the hardware off unscathed. The wood was sacrificed.

Bill