nuts holding the body muffler to the engine

[mtnsurgtech]

I noticed a bit of carbon/smoke near the muffler on the right side of my bike (1985 Aspencade 1200). When I inspected the area under the bike right where the two exhaust pipes go into the motor there was a bit of black smudge near the area. I cleaned it off and on the way home from work I stopped at the bike shop where I get all my work done and ask about replacing the gaskets. My mech who has done all the work on my bike and seems to know a great deal about gold wings said that under no circumstances should I try removing those bolts. He said that as old as my bike was and with the probability that they had never been removed even with break free the chances of snapping those bolts was extremely high. I was just wondering if any of you had similar problems and how you addressed them or what you think of his assesment of taking those bolts off. I know if they did snap I would be in a world of hurt lol. Thanks for any info

[SIR tricky]

A good soaking with wd40 or some other type of penetrating substance. a little heat and either the stud will come out or the nut will come off.

I coating never seize on the threads will prevent problems in the future.

or you can leave them as they are and hope they come off when needed.

[admin]

I have never had a problem getting those bolts out on any GL1200 I have worked on. One did come to me with a broken bolt but a little heat with a torch and a pair of vise grips spun it out no problem.

[neoracer]

there is a reason why the old time mechanics called torches "heat wrenches"

[mtnsurgtech]

Tricky, how hot should I get the nuts/studs before putting a wrench to them, and what is the coating that you use to keep them from seizing the next time? Thanks for the help on this.

[GoneFishin]

I believe what he said he used was anti-seize compound. You can get it at any auto parts shop. Good insurance for work you do in the future!

[SIR tricky]

Tricky, how hot should I get the nuts/studs before putting a wrench to them, and what is the coating that you use to keep them from seizing the next time? Thanks for the help on this.

Hot enough so that if you touch it you go "OUCH" or some other profanity but not glowing red.

Probably soaking the them overnight with wd40 or such would do.

I use never seize on all bolts that I remove, except the ones the manual recommends to coat with other greases etc

Here is one such compound

[neoracer]

you might also try getting them hot and cooling off a couple times helps to

[firstwing85]

if you have access to an impact wrench, set it to low impact and it will rattle it off without damaging anything.
I had no trouble with mine at all.
good luck with that but I'm sure it will come off with an incident.

[mtnsurgtech]

Thank you all for the information. I have ordered new studs (just in case), bolts, and gaskets. I think between the break free, heat, and low impact wrench I can do this without to much worry. I appreciate all the good people who help non-wrenchers like myself. Thanks again.