My grandson and son-in-law are resurrecting a 1984 Ford pickup, which has been resting for several years. The throttle shaft is firmly stuck in the throttle body of the carburetor. It won't tap loose and so far PB blaster has no effect. The body is pot metal, shaft is steel. Any suggestions as to how to free it up would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ted
I had a 4 barrell Holly carb that I used on a 56 Ford 292 that I found and it was completely locked up.
I soaked it in carb cleaner for about 2 weeks and things slowly started to loosen up.
I believe the cleaner was in a 5 gal bucket with a strainer bucket to hold the carb and whatever in.
Since the carbs are made of pot metal it takes patience to let it soak and then slowly start to loosen things CAREFULLY without breaking something.
I dissasembled as much as I could on the old Holly 4 barrell and then let it soak.
Thats what I did but it took a LOT of time.
The 4 barrell Hollys that were on the 55-56 Fords are real hard to find so thats why I took so much time on it.
Bump
Is the throttle body cast iron or die cast? If it's iron, you could try the electrolysis method. If it's die cast, use John's method.
PB Blaster is pretty low on the useful fluids in the shop. You'd get better results by just soaking it in diesel fuel. (Seriously)
I wish I had the chart showing all the various penetrants. I do remember some of it. WD-40 is slightly better than water. The best commercial product, and most costly, is Kroil. Twice as good as Kroil is a 50/50 home brew of acetone and ATF.
Dry the carb out of all flamables. Warm the areas where the shafts are with a small torch and give it a shot of penitrating oil. Gently work the shaft. I have rescued many carbs this way.
Here is one report:
A 50/50 mix of acetone & ATF=Best Ever! Here's the cold, hard facts from the April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop. They did a test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the number of pounds the better.
Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce
None ................. 516 pounds .
WD-40 .............. 238 pounds .. $0.25
PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35
Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21
Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75
ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10
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Thank you Jim, I was hooked on Kroil (I was introduced to it at work, where they go thru it in 22 gallon barrels - in real life, a quart lasts a long time) but for the price (yeah, it is darned pricey stuff!!)will try the Acetone/ATF mix.
I've used the Acetone/ATF mixture for a few years, since learning about it here on the Forum. I love it!
BTW, Good to see you back, Sue.