[HO455]

I got a couple of hours of cleaning on the winch and another hour and a half removing the two mounting bolts that twisted off when I removed the winch from the bumper. I soaked the two housings for a week or so in penetrating oil in preparation for the battle to remove the bolts and not screw up the aluminium housings.

To get them out I clamped the housing down and then heated it with a Mapp torch to about 150*. Then I would spray some penetrating oil on the threads on both end of the bolt to cool and then to shock the corrosion around the bolt I tapped the bolt with a hammer, more oil to flush debris. Then grab the remaining piece of the bolt with a pair of Vice Grips and wiggle back and forth trying to get the bolt to break free. I repeated the process over and over until eventually the bolt would start to wiggle and then spraying more oil on the threads to wash more debris out and slowly the bolts came out without gauling the threads.

One bolt fought much harder to stay in and the remaining piece was getting small and pointed. I then had to take a grinder and carefully make two flat spots to be able to get a solid grip on the bolt. The first bolt took about 20 minutes to remove and the second one about 90 minutes to get free.

I suppose I could have drilled them out and tapped them for the next size up ,but then my ADD would have made me do the same on the other 6 holes so they would all be the same.