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I'm in a bit of a pickle here, so I'm replacing the bolts on my diving board, and I noticed that the brace is bent, in such a way that makes it hard to tighten the nut. There was barely enough space to get the nut on, but as you can see there's still some space that I could tighten it. What would be the best tool to use here?

Wrenches are too big, a socket wrench maybe could fit if I cut the bolt to be shorter, but it would quickly catch on the bent side of the metal. I am wondering if there's a tool that let's me grip the sides of the nut, and tighten it that way.

Like a long, straight jaw wrench.

I've tried searching everywhere and couldn't find anything, so now I'm thinking maybe somebody has a better idea for me because I've been working on this all day and I've already been to home depot twice, I hope I only need to go back one more time haha

I also have no idea how it got so bent, it's like really tough metal, and i'm wondering if there's any way to bend it back, but I don't think I have the leverage for it. I took a huge set of pliers and tried and it didn't budge like at all

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    Can you use a hydraulic jack to bed the metal back in place?
    – Cheery
    Commented Jul 18 at 2:59
  • The bracket appears to be made that way, not bent after the fact. The board on it does not appear to be made to fit it. The angle of the bolt would be accessible with a board that was made to fit it.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jul 18 at 10:27
  • What does the metal bracket look like on the other side? Is there enough room for a crows foot wrench?
    – Huesmann
    Commented Jul 18 at 11:30
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    That is the inference - the end of the board would be angled to fit the bracket, and the bolt would thus be angled in a way that a normal or deep socket would fit without a fuss. What's the material of the bracket? I see some rust stains but that might just be from the bolt. If it's aluminum and you attempt the "bend it" advice it may well break. Even if steel/iron, if it's cast as the second picture strongly implies, it will all-but-certainly break. And it would have broken if it had been made straight and an incomprehensible force attempted to bend it this way. Castings don't like to bend.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jul 18 at 12:26
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    It looks like this bracket is on one side of the board. Can you add a picture of the one on the other side, and/or a wider picture showing the entire pylon from underneath? I want @ecnerwal to be right, because his idea that this is the design sits better than anything bending it like this. If this were in the back it might be for steps. But on the side?
    – jay613
    Commented Jul 18 at 13:39

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Ouch, that's more of a big rotting cucumber than a little pickle! I would fight with it for a while, cut up some knuckles, ruin a wrench, etc .. you've probably done all that.

[Note, tips below on how to cut / force the nut off. The following on straightening the bracket may be wrong, per ecnerwal comments and I wouldn't try it till I know exactly what's going on]

Ways to maybe straighten the bracket: - bend it with two very large pipe wrenches grabbing the lip, one on either side of the bolt. - If pipe wrenches fail to grab the lip, try similar tools with different angles e.g. Magic Wrench, right angle Vise Grips, etc. - Drill a couple of 3/8 inch holes in the lip. Stick long bolts through them with a pair of nuts, one either side of the lip, to grab it. You can drill at any angle so the bolts stick out the way you want.

If none of that works I'd try whatever cutting or grinding tools work best.

  • Cut the nut in half with an angle grinder.
  • Get the head to turn from above so you only have to hold the nut, not turn it. Maybe drill into the head for an extractor bit, maybe cut a slit in it for a flathead screwdriver.

None of these things will be graceful.

Once the board is off the bracket then I'd work on straightening it.

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  • Have a haybine and the designers designed one bolt/nut almost like this. When it had to be removed, the cutting torch came out.
    – crip659
    Commented Jul 18 at 12:19
  • other ways to straighten it: heat it up red hot before wrenching on it. steel becomes so much more accommodating when cherry red.
    – Jasen
    Commented Jul 18 at 13:03
  • Thank you for your answer! So I already cut off the old rusted bolts, what is pictured is the new bolt/nut, and i used pliers to slowly slowly slowly tighten it, but I just can't tighten it all the way because of the small space, and the bent bracket. I do think your idea with pipe wrenches or something to bend it back might work, why did you cross that out?
    – A O
    Commented Jul 18 at 17:19
  • I crossed it out because maybe ecnerwal is correct in above comments, they were made this way, they are cast, they will break if you try to bend them. But if the other side is flat and you're pretty sure this side got bent... Go for it.
    – jay613
    Commented Jul 18 at 19:51
  • Also, if you did cut the bolts or whatever and got them off, you can remove the board, and then none of my suggestions for bending the thing are useful. You can come up with better things when you have full access from both above and below and possibly can heat it too.
    – jay613
    Commented Jul 18 at 19:54
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DO you have a floor jack? I would put the bent edge on the floor jack and bent it back level.

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Do not attempt to jack that casting straight. You'd tear something apart, or at least lift it, long before it'll bend.

Also do not heat it. It appears to be coated with rubber to protect against chlorinated water, and there's adjacent fiberglass. You'll make a lot of smoke long before you heat it enough to soften it.

The main problem is that the nut is locked in by the deformation of the channel. If you can't spin the bolt from above, you'll have to cut it off.

Put an abrasive cutoff wheel in an angle grinder and approach the nut parallel to the bolt. Cut through the threads of the bolt as you split the nut.

When you replace the bolt, put a bushing on it under the nut to give yourself clearance to turn the nut.

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  • thanks for this answer, yeah i don't think jacking it will work, but another answerer suggested using pipe wrenches to lever it, what do you think about that? also what is a bushing? i tried googling the term but really couldn't figure out exactly what it is or what it does
    – A O
    Commented Jul 18 at 17:20
  • Feel free to try bending it, but in my experience metal work-hardens. You may end up making crunchy sounds before you get to your goal. A bushing is a very thick washer. You'll find them in aluminum and bronze at any good hardware store.
    – isherwood
    Commented Jul 18 at 18:06
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    Best answer. Practical, gets it done, very little risk. I'll leave mine up for contrast. :(
    – jay613
    Commented Jul 18 at 21:15

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