Luggage bracket removal.

This isn't a very technical issue, but:

Has anyone else had trouble getting the grab bars off the tail of their Gen 6 interceptor?

I'm trying to remove the luggage brackets and of course, I have to remove the grab bars temporarily to accomplish that. I can only get one bolt loose on either side. I'm no weakling, I actually twisted a hex key trying to get the others off. Am I missing something? I don't have direct access to pneumatic tools, and when I tried to use the dewalt it literally started smoking before I got the stubborn s.o.b's loose.

 

Must be rust....Spray some WD40 or similar and let it soak.

 

After soaking with WD40 or penetrating oil, you might try hitting the head of those bolts with hammer. It would work bet if you had a spare hex key of the right size, and hit that into the socket of the bolt. Might free up any corroded threads.

 

It may of been subject to an overly zealous use of loctite or even the wrong type of loctite

If this is the case you may need to heat the bolt for a little while , now because it is near plastic you could try a large 100w + soldering iron in the head of the bolt for a couple of minutes this usually will be enough to loosen the loctite a bit to allow it to be removed but it will still need considerable force to do so
also try not to melt the grab rail

sometimes trying to tighten it 1/16 or so of a turn before trying to undo it will loosen a rusted bolt


generally you will get better results by shocking it loose rather than constant pressure on the tool constant pressure can snap the tool or the bolt

Try hitting the tool with a plastic / brass faced hammer taking care not to hit the body work or yourself or use an air powered rattle gun with a hex key socket attached

Try these things at your own peril i take no responsibility if it goes pear shaped , I have used all these techniques with success several times

 

Thanks to everyone! a combination of all those solutions paired with the factory-supplied cheater bar for torque helped. I got the bolts out and it turned out to be.... (drum roll) Overzealous use of Loctite. Or at least that's what I'm assuming since there was no evidence of rust. Thanks for the help!

 

Glad ya got them boogers out.

 

Have any of you, or anyone you know, taken the grab bars off completely? I saw a vfr with the grab bars removed and caps over the cavities. Was wondering where I could get the caps.

 

Ebay or a stealership, thats if they even have them anymore. Post in classifieds here under wanted, and on VFRD

 

You will also need shorter bolts. The bolts used on the grab handles are far to long. These you can probably get at a hardware store a hell of a lot cheaper than the dealership. The plastic covers for a 6th gen should be readily available at the dealership. I wouldn't imagine they cost a whole lot.