Tips to: tighten/loosen through bolt solo?

[rreegg]

Anyone have tips on how to loosen or tighten a through bolt solo? The nut will start to spin the bolt at a certain point and it risks messing up sealant/butyl waterproofing.

Run into this problem a lot with boats (and recently when installing an air vent onto my truck canopy) - the nut needs to be turned on a through bolt but one person isn't able to reach both sides.

It's ideal to have a second person but this isn't always possible.

One way that works alright for me (when Installing a new through bolt and selecting new hardware) is to use about an inch longer bolt than necessary. I'll be able to keep the bolt from turning with a visegrip while tightening up the nut on the same side. The downside is this can ****** up the threads and make removal difficult.

Any thoughts at all?

 

[Clb]

Vice grips?
I'm in a habit of welding a tab that hits something that stops the rotation.

Weld up a keyhole deal on bolt head, make a similar hole ?

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

I was gonna say, weld the bolt head a tad. Heard about that with the bed bolts, can't take them out solo without that trick.

It all depends on what you're doing. Install is way easier than removal because the bolt and nut are clean and fresh and suck down with an impact from one side. On small hardware I use the vice grips on the head of the bolt and prop or tie it off to something to keep from rotating. Bigger stuff is much harder, sometimes you can rest a box wrench on the head and again prop it or strap/use magnets to keep the wrench from falling off or rotating...you already know all this though...doh I'm no help.

Due to the sealant you're in a pickle. Let us know what works in the end!

 

[Nero]

You could also put a split lock washer next to the bolt head, then put it in the hole

 

[Clb]

Capture washers?

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[ROCK HARVEY]

A lot of times I can stick the box end of a wrench on the inside and position it so it catches against something so I can rotate it from the other side. Sometimes I stick a cheater pipe on it so it extends out and hits something.

 

[jbm6900]

Vise grips up against something.

 

[Jim993]

I use Gorilla tape to tape a box end wrench on the side difficult to get to, usually up against something to keep it from turning, but most times Gorilla tape alone does the trick.