Question / Removing petrified 1958 harley davidson fL rear fender tip mount screws

[upsrod]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262678923904...84.m1436.l2648

[Spuddley]

upsrod, that is the tip! Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a view of the mounting side.

Oh well, i am starting to free up a lot more time to start working again on the "Crusty Mutt Panhead", so i will first try the aerosol products than if that doesn't work I will get to grinding.

thanks again to all of youe, it is much appreciated.

[upsrod]

The last eBay picture shows it. I would grind the screw heads off to get it off of the fender and go from there.

[T. Cotten]

The last eBay picture shows it. I would grind the screw heads off to get it off of the fender and go from there.

Ah, the "dove wing" trim, thanks Upsrod!

Curious how the common repop catalogs list those as '35 through '46, but since they are not in the parts book listing, confusions are inevitable.
Certainly they were in H-D accessory catalogs?

....Cotten

[Rubone]

Spuddley,
Be careful with those screws and do what it takes to get them loose. Time may be money to some, but patience and tenacity will win the battle on those screws. The small block they are attached to is susceptible to disconnecting from the tip if treated roughly. Lots of those tips are around with holes plum through them where the mounting block was broken off and screws run through the face to attach, not a good look. And the tip itself is easy to deform if the block twists.
Good luck.

[Omarttentmaker]

An antique car guy turned me on to a sure-fire bolt and nut loosener a few years back....Try a 50/50 mix of acetone and automatic transmission fluid

[Spuddley]

The beautiful thing about Kroil is that it "Creeps". Apply in the evening and the next morning the threads have Kroil on them. I just did this with a rusted on cast iron master cylinder cap on a cast iron cylinder. A 3 foot breaker bar wouldn't break it loose. The next morning I removed it with an 8" Crescent wrench.

>>> I have Kroil, been using that, too. No sucess.

[Spuddley]

Spuddley,
Be careful with those screws and do what it takes to get them loose. Time may be money to some, but patience and tenacity will win the battle on those screws. The small block they are attached to is susceptible to disconnecting from the tip if treated roughly. Lots of those tips are around with holes plum through them where the mounting block was broken off and screws run through the face to attach, not a good look. And the tip itself is easy to deform if the block twists.
Good luck.

>>>> Rubone, my concern is exactly as you have written. I know this heaps history back to when it was jumble-mutted together in the sixties. I'm sure that the tip is OEM 1958. I also know that for the last 10 years or so it was stored in a broken down old separate garage, ass end to a corner of the garage that had a roof leak, especially when snow on the roof would melt.

[T. Cotten]

Patience is a virtue, Spuddley!

(But I save that for customers; The rest I trust to proper tools and the skills to use them.)

Have you access to a jeweler's torch, with a very very small tip?
Some AMWAY Oven and Grill coating will protect the chrome on the outside, and wrapping the whole thing in a cold, wet rag will dissipate a quick and focused heating, so the "block" should stay put as a douse of penetrant cools it..

Hopefully there will be a bit left exposed to get your 'tenacity' upon. I prefer a simple pair of small end-nip pliers.
If the screws resist a sharp cook and dousing, or even a dab of silversolder to grab, then re-soldering fresh lathe-cut blocks isn't impossible: I've done it (years ago) to trim that have been drilled-though (but the re-chrome suffered anyway.)

Resourcefullness is a better virtue,

....Cotten

[Chris Haynes]

>>> I have Kroil, been using that, too. No sucess.

Did you let it soak overnight?

[Spuddley]

Did you let it soak overnight?

No, I sprayed/squirted down into the top of the tip for most of those 2 years, and have been regularly spraying from the screw head side for about a week since I removed the fender completely off of the bike. It's going somewhere besides behind the tip or on the work bench.

[panz4ever]

Have had good results using Mouse Milk penetrating oil. Friend turned me on to the product. Got it at a local aviation supply store next to Reid-Hillview Airport (local airport for prop-driven planes). It was the only stuff that worked when I had to get the small screws and nuts off the licensplate to tail light housing on an OEM Tombstone tail-light assembly. Other stuff I have used to remove rust is Metal Rescue. Worked very well to get the rust off my brake drum parts on my 64 El Camino.

[T. Cotten]

Omar!
You left out the Marvel Mystery Oil...

Hot bees' wax?
(Save old toilet rings... the clean part of course.)

Snake oils are are all good (maybe the only use for Seafoam). But none work if you don't get it into the threads.
And even then, its a 'maybe'.

The "blue-tipped wrench" rarely lets me down.

....Cotten
PS: Who is going to be the first to say: "EDM"?

[exeric]

As Tom said, heat works the best in conjunction with some kind of oil. Getting the heat where you need it will be the trick.

[Rubone]

The threaded inserts are silver soldered to the tip, so a "blue tip wrench" injudiciously applied is a disaster in the making...