Embarrassed Q - how the heck do I get polyurethane exhaust hangers off?

From the "don't wrench in the middle of the night when you're dead tired" files...

I'm swapping the exhaust on the Me-Otter for one of FM's nice stainless ones. Only that muggins here didn't twig that in order to get the exhaust mounted easily, you really, really want to put the exhaust hangers on the back box first, then lift the whole thing up and push the exhaust hangers into their place.

So now I have the exhaust hangers in place and can't get the exhaust hooked into them. Do'h. And I don't seem to be able to take the exhaust hangers off the car again in a non-destructive way. Given that I managed to get them on there, it has to be possible to get them off. Any suggestions? Soap to lubricate? Polyurethane grease? Angle grinder? Flame thrower?

white lithium grease and a bigass pair of channel locks.

Sounds like I was on the right track then. Just need to find the channel locks, they seem to have gone on vacation the last time I tidied the garage.

Lots of lube and this

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=635615&group_ID=675511&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Did you try cursing at it? That usually works for me.

For the really stubborn ones, I like to shout at them.

Seriously, lots of lube and slowly moving it. This is a job I hate, especially if you have to do it on your back, for a hanger that's in the middle of the car.

I'm pretty good at cursing, and attempting to get the hangers off proved it again. At some point my wife wandered into the garage from the living room (which is at the other side of the house) to check if I was OK because of all the noise coming out of the garage.

Oh yeah, and the car is a foot and half in the air, on axle stands, because that makes the job more fun.

Silicone spray...

I keep a steak-knife in the garage for this very reason. Sorry, I know that's not helpful, but I just realized that any time I've ever removed the exhaust on a car, it's been with the intention of it never going back on.

In reply to Donebrokeit:

Considerably cheaper version I have:

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-16086-lisle-38350.aspx

This is what I was thinking of ^^^ The Snap On tool came up in the search first.

A lot of times, I use one of these to get in between the hanger and the hook and then shoot a little WD40 in between. Then they usually slide right off.

In reply to Woody:

If the metal part is smooth, sure, but some of them have a cone-shaped nib on the end that really locks the sucker on there. I've had some old, age-stiffened rubber hangers fight me for every mm even using the special tool. The center section hangers on MINI exhausts come to mind.

As Ian F said, at least on my Miata the hangers have that cone shaped nib on them. Plus, they're polyurethane so they weren't exactly easy to manipulate.

Anyway, introducing the tool of the week:

Popped the exhaust hangers right over the nib and with a bit of swearing I could get them off.

Woody wrote: A lot of times, I use one of these to get in between the hanger and the hook and then shoot a little WD40 in between. Then they usually slide right off.

I have had luck by prying down on the hanger while pushing forward (more on). This will typically allow a little space to open on the bottom which you can get that dental pick into, or a flat screwdriver. Once you have a prying device under it, you can begin pulling it out. you should be able to get the bottom over the lip by pulling down and back with the pry tool in place. With lots of grease/oil etc it will come out slowly. You may need to rotate the pry tool around to get it over the lip initially. Once your over the lip with silicon spray lube etc, you just have to pull and be patient.