My pump seal swap on the Kaskaskia took 9 hours, not the 2 I planned

Last Tuesday we had a cutless bearing leak on our cutterhead dredge out near Carlyle. I figured a quick seal replacement, maybe two hours tops. The old housing bolts were so rusted that three snapped off flush with the casing. I burned the afternoon with a torch and an extractor kit, then drove 40 miles to a fastener shop for grade 8 replacements. Got it back together around 7pm, and the leak was gone. Has anyone else had luck with a specific method for frozen bolts on a pump housing, or do you just plan a full day for it?

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hayden5871mo ago

The "three snapped off flush" part is the worst, that's exactly the kind of thing that turns a two hour job into a whole day. I used to be one of those guys who just grabbed the breaker bar and hoped for the best on rusted bolts. Then I started soaking everything in PB Blaster the night before and hitting the bolt heads with a torch for a minute or two before cranking on them, and honestly it cut my breakage way down. Heat plus the overnight soak makes a bigger difference than any extractor kit I've tried. Still, you did the right thing swapping to grade 8 hardware. That's cheap insurance for next time.

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