We are all big fans of PB Blaster but according to this recent study, there's better stuff out there. This was posted on my local club's forum and thought it would be helpful to everyone here who needs to break loose stubborn bolts.

Machinist's Workshop magazine tested penetrants for break out torque on rusted nuts. They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrants with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" environment. The results are as follows;

Penetrating oil..... Average load

None ..................... 516 pounds

WD-40 .................. 238 pounds

PB Blaster ............. 214 pounds

Liquid Wrench ..... 127 pounds

Kano Kroil ............ 106 pounds

ATF-Acetone mix....53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix was a "home brew" mix of 50-50 automatic transmission fluid and acetone.


I have used the home brew and recommended to others it works well...the only problem is that it has a very short shelf life so only mix enough for what you are going to use immediately.

whoa
if im reading that right, liquid wrench is better than pb blaster?

looks like ill be using homebrew from now on

any specific atf?

It didn't specify what type of ATF but probably any kind would work. Because of the acetone mix, it evaporates quickly so like they said, mix only what you need. I was surprised at the results myself. I've also read over there that the Kano Kroil can be hard to find.

Nice find Drake. I try to keep the X pretty clean but there's no avoiding rusty bolts in the salty snowy highways of the north.:thumbsup-big:

kano kroil

http://www.google.com/products?q=kano%20kroil&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf

i was surprised at the liq wrench vs pb results too.. I wonder if the "scientifically rusted environment" mimics the same real, world scenario of a rust weld...

either way, great find!

Interesting...I've heard talks about liquid wrench....but always used PB Blaster.

We'll see how this steering system treats me since I've been PB blasting it almost daily.

hm good info. always heard that PB was the best.. never tried it.. i like doing it the busted knuckle way usually.

I have been using PB, but I might have to swap to the ATF/Acetone to see if it is really that good.

Good find! I will try the ATF-Acetone mix at work; We're always having to grind off old nuts and bolts because of exposure to seawater, drilling mud, solvents, completion fluids, etc. I broke an 18 inch Proto adjustable wrench a couple of weeks ago. I had a 5 foot cheater pipe and was using the forklift to break loose a bolt. It never budged. All we had to try and unseize it was WD-40, which is crap.

How dues the acetone evaporate if you store it in a closed/capped container mixed with the ATF??????????

order direct from Kanolabs.com to get kroil. well worth it

lol i like the idea of home brew! sound funny but it works!

Can't believe PB is not at the top. Did they say how long they let all the lubes sit on the bolts??? I know PB doesn't work right away but you give it a min and that crap works wonders.

Can't believe PB is not at the top. Did they say how long they let all the lubes sit on the bolts??? I know PB doesn't work right away but you give it a min and that crap works wonders.

x2 or if you sprayed them down for a week straight.

LOL

I've used all of them, and the AT-Acetone is great, but a PITA, causes cancer when its absorbed through the skin, or you breath it, etc.

Kroil IS better than PB Blaster, I have it....and its better, but, I always recommend the PB BLaster, as its an off the shelf item, and, IT WORKS.

Liquid Wrench, WD-40, etc...work, but not as well.

Its POSSIBLE that the WAY the oxidation was formed, and, as it was done "scientifically"...that means it had to be rusted QUICKLY...or the "Study" would have had to start years bore they tried to get the nuts off, etc.

In the lab, we used specific oxidation tests for simulation as well, but, its NOT the same thing as road salt and water over the course of years.

:D