Hurley Boot

This is a Hurley Jr. (homemade) with a boot (also homemade).  The boot allows the Hurley pulling angle to be adjusted so that it is always pulling directly in-line with the bolt.  In situations where the bolt isn't perpendicular to the rock face, or the rock face around the bolt is uneven, a regular Hurley will often not seat in-line with the bolt once tightened and quickly bends the bolt, making it even more difficult to remove.  I have discovered this happening a lot.

At some point I will post directions for making a boot here, although you can probably figure it out just by looking at the pictures.

I have used this boot with my Hurley  with great success at several locations here in the Southeast.

This has been my main issue with the Hurley tools and I've broken many bolts trying to pull at a not-quite-straight angle. The YABR seems to solve this with it ball gear design, but jee$ they are pricey. Someday I might build my own from Greggor's plans. My question for you with the boot is, how long does it take to adjust and how long did it take you to fine-tune that skill? Is it fairly easy to tell if you're correctly adjusted? It would be awesome to figure out a "self-adjusting" "boot" design that could withstand the compressive forces involved, but that kind of seems impossible.

Andy, I can adjust the seat bolts by hand, so it only takes a minute or two at most to seat the Hurley in line with the bolt you are pulling.  Basically you finger tighten the Hurley nut, then finger tighten the seat bolts until nothing moves, then crank away with a box wrench!

It's actually pretty easy to seat.  No special skills needed.

Total cost of the boot is around $30 for parts, plus some bits and taps.  The aluminum tube section is the most expensive part, at around $17.  Then (4) 3/8"-16 shoulder bolts for the seat bolts at $1.20 each, and (4) 1/4"-24 (or whatever small size you want) bolts for attaching to the Hurley body at $1 each.  A couple of cobalt bits sized for the holes you are tapping, and a couple of cheap taps ( you're tapping aluminum, so cheap taps work) and you are good to go.

Thats why I'm not a fan of the hurley and have been using a slide hammer instead.  Usually I spin the stud till it comes out on its own, if not then I put on the slide hammer and funk it out.  No need to worry about being flush to the rock and the slide hammer works on sleeves as well so 1 less tool to bring. It's easy to unscrew when finished too.  The boot sounds like a good idea though.

I have a cheaper solution for that, but I haven't had enough troubles with off-axis bolts to warrant using this mod very often: 

You can buy a hemispherical cup and washer set, then put the cup and washer into a durable sleeve so you won't drop them. Poke a 1/2" hole thru the center for the draw stud or bolt and you will have a self-aligning base.

I used a bicycle tube that I sewed shut on each cut end. It seemed durable enough to last a while. Cordura or a Kevlar firehose might be better. The ones I bought are stainless and non-magnetic, but pairing a set of plated steel washers with a big magnet on the side might work in practice.

Shift Kicker wrote:

Thats why I'm not a fan of the hurley and have been using a slide hammer instead.  Usually I spin the stud till it comes out on its own, if not then I put on the slide hammer and funk it out.  No need to worry about being flush to the rock and the slide hammer works on sleeves as well so 1 less tool to bring. It's easy to unscrew when finished too.  The boot sounds like a good idea though.

Interesting. What type of rock are you typically working with?

I work with mostly limestone, granite, quartzite and cobble.

That’s a nice base, and Greg always has a simple/elegant solution.
My simple/less elegant solution is to just use a shim under the side you need to lift. I regularly adjust the angle of the puller using a hanger, or the tip of my pliers/wrench. It’s not perfect but close, takes 2-seconds and doesn’t require any extra stuff. 

Peter Thomas wrote:

That’s a nice base, and Greg always has a simple/elegant solution.
My simple/less elegant solution is to just use a shim under the side you need to lift. I regularly adjust the angle of the puller using a hanger, or the tip of my pliers/wrench. It’s not perfect but close, takes 2-seconds and doesn’t require any extra stuff. 

Are you working with the YABR in this case, Hurley, or? 

The problem I've found when shimming using a hammer claw, or hanger, or whatever, is it dents the heck out of the end of the Hurley's aluminum tube.

Andy B wrote:

Are you working with the YABR in this case, Hurley, or? 

I’ve done it with doodads and YABRs. Seems like it would work with any puller. It does chew up the end over time, but so does the rock.

Someone made a similar custom interface for their YABR (triangle with grub screws at each point to adjust angle) but I’ve not found it necessary on mine. 

Seems like pretty soon Greg’s core-drill method is going to make all this obsolete!

Agreed!  Just received my core drilling parts and looking forward to trying it out.  Hoping that core drilling can be the defacto method for removal.