MC2
03-31-2009, 06:51 PM
I was trying to take my exhaust off where the first cat meets the center pipe. I got the first bolt loose and proceeded to keep loosening it to take it off… whats strange is that as I loosen it, it gets to a point where it starts to tighten again, all the way to the point where even though I’m turning lefty loosey it tightens up so much that I can’t even turn it anymore and feels as if I’m tightening the bolt… I think there’s probably 3-4 turns in the counter clockwise direction before it starts to tighten again.
What’s also weird is that both sides look like the head of a bolt, neither side really looks like a nut (no bolt stud protruding out like you usually have with a bolt/nut). One side looks like the bolt might be flush with the head of the nut its difficult to tell, but even when I’m loosening those 3-4 threads I don’t see the bolt backing out of a nut on either side at all… And when I tightened it back I watched the two flanges and I don’t see them compressing at all, so I guess they are just rusted together.
I know these are self locking nuts (though I don’t know what kind) according to the manual, but I never came across a nut like that before. I didn’t keep trying since I felt like I would break the bolt, plus I wasn’t able to break loose the other bolt on the flange. I just tightened it back up and decided I can just take the entire front and center section off as one piece since the bolts with the springs came off just fine.
Are those exhaust bolts some type of special bolt that I should know about? And do I need to replace those bolts if I loosen or remove them (since I will need to remove the ones that connect the rear pipe to rear muffler anyway)..
What’s also weird is that both sides look like the head of a bolt, neither side really looks like a nut (no bolt stud protruding out like you usually have with a bolt/nut). One side looks like the bolt might be flush with the head of the nut its difficult to tell, but even when I’m loosening those 3-4 threads I don’t see the bolt backing out of a nut on either side at all… And when I tightened it back I watched the two flanges and I don’t see them compressing at all, so I guess they are just rusted together.
I know these are self locking nuts (though I don’t know what kind) according to the manual, but I never came across a nut like that before. I didn’t keep trying since I felt like I would break the bolt, plus I wasn’t able to break loose the other bolt on the flange. I just tightened it back up and decided I can just take the entire front and center section off as one piece since the bolts with the springs came off just fine.
Are those exhaust bolts some type of special bolt that I should know about? And do I need to replace those bolts if I loosen or remove them (since I will need to remove the ones that connect the rear pipe to rear muffler anyway)..