Frozen head Bolts

[Destroyer]

Well, there are two schools of thought here.

One says heat the bolts, hopefully to make the corrosion a little softer.

The other says that heat makes things expand, so if you heat the bolts that will just make them expand inside the cavity and make them even harder to loosen. That school of thought says heat the head and try to loosen the bolts as the heat is expanding the head.

Personally, before I tried anything else I'd go to Sears and buy a 1/2 drive hand impact tool. These are units that you fit a socket onto, put it on the nut or bold to be loosened and strike it hard with a hammer. (A drilling hammer works best). When you hit the tool the force of the blow does several things.. first, it helps loosen the bolt by delivering a shock wave from the hammer through the block. Second, each blow causes the socket to turn slightly, much like an impact hammer. Third, since you're driving the socket onto the bolt with a hammer shot, the socket is liss likely to round off the corners of the bolt.
Oh, and make sure you use a 6 point socket, not a 12 point.

These tools are indispensible for anyone that works on motorcycles since lots of the screws that hold a bike together are phillips head and will round out with the use of just about any other tool. They will break fasteners free when nothing else will, and they are not that expensive. In fact, they are on sale now for less than $20.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...1&blockType=G1