remove rusted fasteners ?

[ivarr]

need to take off the fender flares and the fasteners are all SCREWED.
have a new full fastener kit for when i'm done with what i'm doing, and the flares are all perfectly fine so will just get a fresh spray before re-install.

how best to remove , cut, break, or ???, the rusted to death things infected by 20 years of massachusetts road salt, yet still holding them on extremely well. without damaging the plastic of the factory flares ?

 

[macleanflood]

Yeah good luck with that...lots of penetrating oil. Your going to probably need heat...but plastic...

I struggled to remove the flares off a 2000 Sahara I was parting out. In my case I was able to break off or remove the heads of the fasteners and didn't care about removing them completely.

But once you have the flares off you have a lot more options.

-Mac

 

[MtPockets]

need to take off the fender flares and the fasteners are all SCREWED.
have a new full fastener kit for when i'm done with what i'm doing, and the flares are all perfectly fine so will just get a fresh spray before re-install.

how best to remove , cut, break, or ???, the rusted to death things infected by 20 years of massachusetts road salt, yet still holding them on extremely well. without damaging the plastic of the factory flares ?

If you can get a die grinder or drill to them, I've had good luck using a rounded bit and grinding (or drilling) in the center of the head until the entire head comes off.
I've never done it on Jeep flares, but it should work.

 

[ivarr]

the potential huge problem is heat generation.

 

[MtPockets]

the potential huge problem is heat generation.

If you use a good sharp bit, it shouldn't heat up enough to affect anything.
Maybe just go partway on one, then move to another. Skip around and let them cool a bit in between.

 

[Rcroane]

What type of fastener? OEM used a plastic "nut" on the back side. PITA to remove, but not because of rust.

 

[Chayal90]

Try a 50/50 diesel/atf soak or quality penetrating oil and let it sit overnight.

Might get lucky, if not just need to replace hardware.