Bolts holding my cat converter to the exhaust pipes are frozen with rust, and I want to install a new cat. Can I use an angle grinder to cut through the bolts? Is it safe to do so?

Troy

 

Yes........wear safety glasses.

 

its fine, just gotta watch out for the sparks and hope you have enough room... a die grinder with a cutoff wheel would be more ideal, or a sawzall

also, it gets quite loud, wera hearing protection as well as a heavy long sleeved shirt and pants to minimize spark burn

 

Check... safety glasses, a heavy long sleeved shirt & pants, and ear plugs. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Troy

 

Take lots of pictures if there is blood.

 

if you cut a finger, make sure it's someone else's

 

I just sold my digital camera yesterday!!

Troy

 

no blood in sight. The direct fit cat converter was an easy install after the bolts were cut and removed. The spending just doesn't seem to stop....

Troy

 

It won't stop!

 

i used my dewalt 4.5 angle grinder a few weeks ago to do the same thing, because my dewalt recip saw wouldnt work. i knicked the cat so i had to run a bead to seal it up, no big deal.

 

For best results, be sure to use a cut-off wheel instead of a grinding wheel. The cutoff wheels are much thinner so you are removing less material. I get mine from Harbor Freight, they usually run 50-70 cents a piece. Get the size disc that fits your grinder. On my Makita 4.5" grinder, I had to get a thick flat washer to fill the hollow space in the grinding wheel mounting cup to allow using the flat discs.

 

That's what I used, a cut-off wheel. It worked like a charm. Thanks for chiming in.

Troy

 

Take the outer washer and flip it over, it's reversable to handle the thin disc.

 

On mine, there is no separate washer, the retaining nut and washer are all one piece. There is a cup shape to the wheel mount and if I pit a flat cutoff wheel instead of a cupped grinding wheel, the center of the disc is pushed into the cut and the disc breaks. There may have been some adapter for that in the box, but if so, I missed it before tossing it, oh well.

 

You must have the older design grinder then, the newer washer design allows the outer nut to be flipped over to run the thinner disc and they changed the cupped inner washer to a shouldered flat one.

Parts breakdown PDF file

 

Looks like there is an extra washer on that model then. Mine just has the outer nut or if there was a washer, it was in the box and I missed it.