Splitting A Nut With A Drill

Splitting A Nut With A Drill FARM SHOP Handy Hints 30-2-37 Arco Rosenow, Chillicothe, Ill., says you can use a power drill to safely split a stubborn nut off its stud. "Rather than risk twisting a stud off, or accidentally cracking a casting with a hammer and chisel, I use a power drill with a 1/4-in. dia. bit. I clamp another nut against the frozen nut, then center punch into the seam and drill a 1/8-in. dia. hole. I increase the drill bit size until the bit just touches the stud's threads. Then I use a breaker bar to work the nut back and forth. Once the nut comes loose it tends to work like a thread chaser. "I usually clean the exposed threads and then apply penetrating oil before I use the breaker bar. If the nut is really stubborn, I repeat the procedure on the other side of it. "The best thing about this method is that I can still use a socket wrench on the nut," says Rosenow. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Arco and Judy Rosenow, 1223 Hallock Hollow, Chillicothe, Ill. 62523 (ph 309 274-2107).

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