Pro tip: the $45 induction heater bolt tool saved me on a rusted exhaust flange
I was under a 2009 Silverado out in the driveway last month fighting a flange bolt that would not budge for anything. I had already snapped two breaker bars worth of knuckles and the torch was just heating the whole pipe instead of the bolt. So I finally broke down and bought a $45 induction heater kit off the tool truck, the kind that heats the bolt itself with a coil. Two minutes on that thing and the bolt walked right out like it was new. I sat there kind of mad that I waited so long, because the torch had been my go to for years. Now I want to hear from you all: what tool did you put off buying because you thought it was a gimmick, and did it end up being worth the money?
$45 is $45 but that coil only works when you can actually get it around the bolt head, and on a rusted flange tucked up behind a frame rail with 3 inches of room that thing is useless. My torch and some patience has never once needed a special coil or a battery pack, and the heat goes where I aim it, not just where the wire wraps. Induction is nice in a shop with air and elbow room, but half the guys reading this are on their back in a gravel driveway, and there it is just another $45 in the drawer.