So tonight I spent some time trying to remove the running boards on my '54. After wanting to say evil things about someone's mother, I decided to quit for the night and see if anyone in the forum has good advice as to how to get these off. I have loosened the nuts that are attached to the bolts that go through the support brackets that are attached to the frame. However the bolt up inside that "U" channel on the underside of the running board is a round headed bolt. So even though I have the nut loose, as you can imagine, the bolt just turns and turns. I have tried jamming a screw driver between the head and the side of the channel to keep it from stopping to move but that did nothing. Part of the problem of course is that the bolts are completely rusted. At this point so I just want to forcefully break off the nut from the bolt? Does anyone have a good suggestion as to how to do this? Or does anyone have a better idea on how to remove these bolts and get these running boards off? It seems that every bolt on this truck is bound and determined to make my life miserable!!! Steve
Angle Grinder Hi Steve, i had pretty much the same problem, when i tried to take mine off the truck. Some came loose half way, then rust stopped them, from going either in nor out. After a bit of swearing, i took the angle grinder with a thin 1mm cutting blade a cut through the nut. First i wanted to safe as many original nuts and bolts as possible, but on the other end, i thought it´s stupid, to fiddle around on some kind of cheap bolts, instead of getting something more important done. By the way the nuts were square, not hex, so re tighten them would´nt be easy either. My 2 cents...
If memory serves me, this might have been one of those things I used a nut splitter on when I took the running boards off of a different frame. I'll find out soon enough when I take the ones off of my 52. However you do it, it is *NOT* fun! I need to check the "How to restore" thread Russ put up to see if he included this part. Good luck!
If I Recall ... It has been a while, but I think I used a combination of 3" cutoff tool, 4" angle grunder with super thin cutting wheel, and chisel and BFH. That and a few choice words sometimes helps. Bob
Teach them 1/4" bolts whose boss!! Put a big vise grip on the nut tight, move it back and forth and they will break right off. Chris
Thanks - for all the great responses..... I think I will give the vise grip method a try first. Sounds like that method might involve the least amount of choice words. Another question for everyone though, what are you thoughts on buying the reproduction running boards from our host as opposed to paying for the old ones to be blasted, body work done on them an repainted? For only $220 each it almost seems worth it to get new ones which are primered and ready to just be painted. Any thoughts? Steve
Running Boards & Bolts I too tried to save my original bolts but in time I just tightened each one up and it snapped right off , no swearing , no damage to the running boards nor brackets . The bolts are standard carriage bolts , cheap anywhere ~ DO NOT buy the ' Just So ' re-pop bolts ! they were made (in China where else?) out of styrofoamand snapped before any torque was applied..... . No excuse for this , dang Godless communists . I'd say save your original running boards as they're thicker metal and correctly made etc., etc. You might want to look into electrolytic de - rusting , it works *very* well and will do fenders , bed sides etc. using an old bathtub or watering tank from the feed store....
I used vise grips AND over tightening.... On the bolts I had already loosened I used the vise grips and snapping the bolts off was a cinch. On the ones that I hadn't loosened yet I over tightened them and "snap" - runningboards successfully removed and with relative ease and not too may choice words. Both sides are in relatively good condition with just surface rust so the question just becomes do I pay for the blasting and body work (they have a few dents in them and the flange on the bottom side has been bent in spots) or do I pay for the reproductions? Steve
always , ALWAYS , _ALWAYS_ Use the original parts whenever possible ! . Youi'll be glad you did later on .
Chinese Food ! Oh , YEAH ! I just love rat on a stick & orange fried cat ~ there's this little place in No. Ho. near my old shop , I go up there on my days off and take my son out for lunch , he lives the fried maggots , er I mean : rice (yeah , that's it) When I drove a Restaraunt Supply Truck , I had to pass through the kitchens of many high end Chinese restaraunts ~ I'll never eat at any one of them but the basic Blue Collar joints , I love those .
Restaurants In my time ive worked doing ventilation systems for kitchens and one of the worst was a michelan star restaurant with a famous chef in central London, all day they kept asking if we wanted food and this "top" chef came in near the end of the job and insisted we have dinner there, we made up so many excuses not to eat there because of the "back room diners" we saw scuttling around. It was a real eye opener. I also worked on a roof in mid Chinatown in London, that wasn't pleasant, saw some things going on to turn the stomach
