Stuck Exhaust Bolts

[adsm08]

So I am in the process of putting a clutch in my B2. It's taken me well over a month now between bad weather, no lights or heat or electricity in the garage, the cobbled together state of the exhaust, and a transmission that would seem to have not been removed since it was installed at the factory. You can even see Ford and LUK printed clearly on the clutch disk.

Yesterday I ran up against my biggest obstacle yet. The exhaust has been cobbled together. Due to either rust or poorly placed welds the exhaust was 1 continuous piece from the front of the y-pipe to the end of the tail pipe (it's 3 pieces that need replaced now).

I chopped the cat off the muffler, which then fell out when left to hang as the resonator fell apart yahoo:).

Then the Y-pipe bolts were stuck. I had the longest 1/2 ratchet that Snap-On makes and the shaft was flexing.


So I went out and solved my problem by throwing money at it.

And more ratchet. Did I mention I threw more ratchet at it too?

Hope this helps anyone who runs into the same issue.

(The xbox controller is there for scale. For those who don't know the size of the controller, it's 1" drive.)

 

[Andy D]

How much of the exhaust has to be moved to drop the trans? I'm close, real close, to doing the clutch myself. My exhaust has been cobbled by a PO, A straight piece of 2 1/2" is welded to the flange of the Y pipe collector. I just grafted in a cat to muffler section. No biggy to unclamp my stuff . Sawzall will take care of existing butchery. I have laid under mine . I ran the RF wheel up on a Jeep wheel for some clearance, when I fitted the exhaust. I took off the skid plate .

On your trouble, can you put a Dremel on the nut to split it. Or a cold chisel? Spritz some maiden water on the nut and pound on the nut with a drift and a hammer. Mebbe get use a torch to expand stuff. Then when all that fails, leverage. Do or die. either you break the nut or shear the stud. . Snap! What you do now is drill the stud out. 'Cuz if you break off an EZ out, you're screwed. AMHIK

 

[06RangerXLT]

hahaha nice. joke between friends is we were gonna hang one of them on a gun rack in our back window.

zombie apocalypse, thats my weapon of choice. the sound it makes when the pin ratches isnt even a tick. its a clink, clink, clink.

well done brother. now, my rattle issue? ford thinks flex plate....

 

[jhammel85]

hahaha nice. joke between friends is we were gonna hang one of them on a gun rack in our back window.

zombie apocalypse, thats my weapon of choice. the sound it makes when the pin ratches isnt even a tick. its a clink, clink, clink.

well done brother. now, my rattle issue? ford thinks flex plate....

Funny you mention that in the gun rack. I see a truck everyday that has an old beater baseball bat in his. Even has white bandage tape for a handle.

Leverage is king! I'll have to keep this in mind since I'm coming close to replacing my Y pipe. Can't wait..

 

[88 Red Ranger]

Working on my clutch now in the rain. I have 87 ranger 2.9 4x4. The trans came out VERY hard. I didnot undo the y pipe because the exhaust is a dual ALL one piece. The trans hit the pitch flange on the firewall but I got it past it. NOW what to do to get it back in...........

I unbolted the cab and core support and lifted them 1-1/2 inches via 2x4. When the rain stops I will go out to see if that is high enough. It should be.

 

[straycat]

So I am in the process of putting a clutch in my B2. It's taken me well over a month now between bad weather, no lights or heat or electricity in the garage, the cobbled together state of the exhaust, and a transmission that would seem to have not been removed since it was installed at the factory. You can even see Ford and LUK printed clearly on the clutch disk.

Yesterday I ran up against my biggest obstacle yet. The exhaust has been cobbled together. Due to either rust or poorly placed welds the exhaust was 1 continuous piece from the front of the y-pipe to the end of the tail pipe (it's 3 pieces that need replaced now).

I chopped the cat off the muffler, which then fell out when left to hang as the resonator fell apart yahoo:).

Then the Y-pipe bolts were stuck. I had the longest 1/2 ratchet that Snap-On makes and the shaft was flexing.


So I went out and solved my problem by throwing money at it.

And more ratchet. Did I mention I threw more ratchet at it too?

Hope this helps anyone who runs into the same issue.

(The xbox controller is there for scale. For those who don't know the size of the controller, it's 1" drive.)

Dude, you area Ford Tech!!! You got no power up there still?? Why can't you take that to work and fix it there? I have friends who work for Ford and Chevy and Dodge as techs and they can take there stuff into work on the weekends and work on their projects......nice to use a lift when you need it...lol

 

[88 Red Ranger]

By lifting the cab, I was able to get the trans back in. I didn't like doing it in the rain. Yes I did take the 2x4s back out and bolted it the correst way.

 

[88 Red Ranger]

Besides, I needed to lift the body because we just recently bought this 87 reg cab long box mt/mtc 4x4 that the valve covers have leaked for some time, that if I used a torch with all the oil on the exhaust manifolds I would have had a firey mess.

 

[adsm08]

How much of the exhaust has to be moved to drop the trans?

The y-pipe is the bare minimum on most vehicles. Depends on how it passes the trans.

Funny you mention that in the gun rack. I see a truck everyday that has an old beater baseball bat in his. Even has white bandage tape for a handle.

Leverage is king! I'll have to keep this in mind since I'm coming close to replacing my Y pipe. Can't wait..

The one in my Ranger wasn't this ornery and it had a bent bolt in it. These were just rusted in there, and may have been put in by an over-zealous mechanic with a big impact gun, a welder, and no idea how to use either, judging by the state of the exhaust.

Dude, you area Ford Tech!!! You got no power up there still?? Why can't you take that to work and fix it there? I have friends who work for Ford and Chevy and Dodge as techs and they can take there stuff into work on the weekends and work on their projects......nice to use a lift when you need it...lol

I have no power in my own garage yet because the existing structure will not be remaining as the garage. If it stays at all it will become a tool shed, which it isn't much more than now. But we have to get at least another 10K paid down on the Escape before we can afford to start building the garage.


And yeah, I would have been allowed to take it to work to fix it, but I barely made it from here to here:

about 300 feet. I doubt I would have made it along the purple route,

about 10 miles.