Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How do you remove old sealer (tar) from nuts/bolts?

Small brass or steel wire wheel and a dremel.
And they make verticle straight versions of wire brushes also for dremel,s to get in tight spots.

can you get at them with an open end wrench and wack the wrench on the end with a hammer to jam it on the nut and force the schit off?... i've sometimes used a prybar to force a socket or wrench onto the nuts...

"can you get a thread cutting die (or a cleaning die) on there and turn it with a wrench to clean the threads?... i usually put them on backwards to run them up against the nut..."

I thought about doing that and but I know I don't have the correct die. If I can find a die today I will give it a try. It will be very difficult but I don't think there's any other solution.

I've got a dremel and wire brushes but I can't reach the nuts or studs.

last resort... remove the left inner fender/wheelhouse for better access...

Cutting torch??

Are you sure it’s a stud instead of a bolt? Usually the master or the power booster was bolted on the firewall not studded. Bet you find a bolt head under the dash.

That gunk is not a normal condition for the mounting of a vacuum boost unit - someone took extra measures to apply it and you will need to counter that.

Those above have given some excellent suggestions. If you want to save the stud/bolt setup, take those measures and the needed time effort.

Melt gunk with strong solvent and, if needed, application of intense heat with a very focused torch flame. Then drive a 6 point socket on and carefully spin the nuts.

If you can't get good access to the gunk with solvent/torch, start removing body panels.

Nothing new in this post - simply a condensation of comments from others.

good post Cee Cee... but i can assure you that GM(and others) did apply that gunk to their brake booster studs/nuts... sometimes so much you couldn't even find the nut... i grew up in a salvage yard 70's-80's... pulled more of em than i can count...

I have better access on the fender side after I removed the windshield wiper/washer assembly. The big problems are on the engine side. I'll have to remove the hood so I can put one foot on the frame and sit on the the engine. Right now I can only use one hand because I have to use the other hand to hold up my body. I need a body harness, somebody to pick me with my motor hoist and suspend me over the brake booster. Then I will have better access and both hands will be free.

"Melt gunk with strong solvent"

I haven't found any solvent that has any effect on this stuff yet but I haven't tried paint remover yet. When I installed disc brakes on the rear end I couldn't the old gasket off of the differential cover. Somebody suggested suggested using paint remover so tried it and it worked.

We used to use pure MEK (MethylEthylKetone) but that was banned in the late 80’s early 90’s.

Loco - I don't doubt your comment/experience on GM using the gunk on those models. All of my experience removing/repairing booster units has been on older cars/trucks and am thinking I never encountered all of that mess. Maybe my memory is going to the same place as my arm torque.

Hey!, there's an idea!... the "Hover Harness"... needed one a few times... Hurry, get it patented... LOL

"All of my experience removing/repairing booster units has been on older cars/trucks and am thinking I never encountered all of that mess."

I've been working on old cars since 1958 (my first car was a 1950 Oldsmobile) and have never had this problem before. I'm thinking about using a cutoff wheel to remove most of the old booster (it's just thin sheet metal) so I'll have access to these nuts. I never give up! That way I can heat them up and use an impact wrench to remove them before they cool off. There's videos about converting the rear drum brakes to disc brakes on these old trucks but it's not near as easy as they try to make it look. They leave out a lot the problems you will run into.