Advice on fence moly bolt removal?

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G

gms

0
Apr 16, 2008
13
Northern California
Hi,

Anyone have some advice on how to remove the flange mounting moly bolt studs which were drilled into the cement? I've seen some botched attempts where they just got ground down level with the cement, which proceeded to look rusted and ugly. It'd be nice to actually remove them (or most of them) and be able to grout the hole to sort of match.

Thanks!
Greg
 
This forum is great by the way, really first class. Thanks everyone!

I'll see if I can't get a photo uploaded tonight, but basically I think you've got the idea. Each fence mounting flange is attached to the deck with four drilled in expansion anchors. The expansion anchors are all pretty rusty, but I'm hoping I can get the bolt off the stud so I can get the flange (and fence) removed, and then double up on the bolts and try and back out the stud with a wrench (like you would with an exhaust manifold stud), leaving the soft expansion part still in the cement. If it breaks off below the level of the deck, I'm fine with just grouting over. I'd hate to have to drill and use an easyout on many of them though, I've never had much luck with those things - they always break off on me.

I've seen ugly attempts to just grind the stud down to the level of the deck so nobody mangles their feet, which then proceeds to make nice rust stains everywhere...

Greg
 
What kind of anchorments are they? Are they the type that have the nut on top? Or are they the kind that you can screw a bolt into. If they are the kind you can screw a bolt into, forget it, they are staying in there. If they are the kind that you put a nut on top of, you got a chance. The way that those work is that they get a hole drilled, they get put in there, and the washer and nut gets put on and pulls the bolt up, which is tapered at the bottom, and wedges a collar into the sides. You could just tap the bolt down, and keep working it up by hand and ease it out. I know some people drill the hole deep enough to be able to just beat the whole thing down in the future if needed.
 
When you remove the pole, you can cut them off flush, then get a good punch and sledge and batter them down. Even if the holes are not all the way through the concrete I would bet they would still go through. You could then mortar them up.
 
I suspect you'll NEVER be able to get them out the way they went in without having a huge mess and lots more cement repairs. If the cement isn't too thick you might drive them through as Sevver suggested.

If it were me, I'd grind ALMOST flush (to avoid damaging the surface of the surrounding cement), punch a guide hole in the exact center of the bolt (use a center punch with a good point on it) then drill it out as Poolidiot said with a good sharp drill bit, made for drilling metal. After you clean up the hole (get the filings and any remaining threads out), blow it out with compressed air, mix some epoxy and pour in just enough to cover the remaining stud (keeps it from rusting). After the epoxy dries repair the hole matching the finish of the rest of the deck.

Good luck!
 

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