I have two broken bolts one on my skid plate and one on a fender flare. I tried drilling out the one on the skid plate and ended up breaking off a bolt extractor in that bolt. what are my options, any one have any tricks, I used plenty of Pb blaster before attempting any removals. ????? ????

 

well here's how a friend of mine helped me get out a bolt for one of the middle sway bar bushings that attaches to the frame after i snapped the head off...........


we drilled the remaining portion of the bolt just a few sizes shy of hitting the threads (so we wouldnt have to make new ones) so you're basically looking at just a shell of a bolt left threaded in.


then we heated the crap out of whatever was left of the bolt with a torch and used a punch and hammer to try and break the rest of the bolt apart. if you can hit it just right the rest of the bolt should just break apart and fall out.


p.s.----------wear safety goggles and watch your hands (those pieces were hot as a mofo

 

The only thing that can drill out a screw extractor is a masonry bit.
You can also fracture what is left (extractors are brittle) with a center punch
I advocate drilling out as much of the bolt as possible (just barely exposing the threads).
Then as was mentioned, use the center punch to "cave-in" the bolt.

 

What kind of bit do I need to use to drill through that bolt ?????

 

bump

 

Use a regular drill metal drill bit and lots of oil (motor oil works good to cool the bit). Start small first(careful not to break the small bit by bending it....start with like 1/8"), then drill progressively larger holes until you are at the right size. Don't let the bit heat up or it will dull very quickly......keep it cool and it will stay much sharper longer.

The one with the extractor needs to have the broken extractor removed before you can drill it out. You can try to drill it with a carbide tipped masonry bit as I mentioned to smash it to bit with a center punch. Once you get all the peices out then switch to the regular metal drill bit and lots of oil.

 

Good luck getting a screw extractor out. You cant drill it. If you have a mig welder handy. Get a nut that fits over the screw extractor. Now with the mig, weld the nut closed trying to penetrate into the screw extactor. Turn the nut with a wrench and hopefully the screw extracor will come out with it. This is a top secret technique. Dont tell anyone.
BTW. This works well if you ever break a tap off in a hole.

 

Can you weld to a hardened metal like a screw extractor?
I never tried it so I am quite curious about that trick.

 

Not so secret of a trick....hehe

Use it all the time to remove broken bolts too!

BTW Yes you can weld hardened screw extractors....

 

What???

 

it's revive a thread time! this seems to be a common problem

it's not the Runner- it's the 89 MR2 I am working on. I am removing the idler pulley and have rounded off all the points of a 14mm nut. I tried vise grips and have sprayed PB-parts blaster on it repeatedly.

There is only enough room to get a box end wrench on it. The inner rear right fender wall is literally 2 inches away at most. Do you guys have an opinion on the Irwin brand bolt extractors? Seems too good to be true...here is a link:

http://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Industri...m_cr_pr_sims_t

It shows on amazon that Ace Hardware carries these. I am going to give a set a try. I'll report back how it goes. The idea of a socket with a wrenchable type head on it should work. Time for a real breaker bar too....

 

I've heard that a 50 50 mix of ATF and acetone will work muchhh better than PB blaster. Try soaking it in that? Goggle it first to make sure the mixture is right.

 

That looks like a good product, let us know how it works. I've used something very similar called Metrinch sockets and wrenches. They have saved my butt many times. They lock closer to the center (flat part) of the hex head rather than the points.

 

"The April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop did a test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the number of pounds the better. Mighty interesting results for simple acetone and tranny fluid!

Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce
None ................. 516 pounds .
WD-40 .............. 238 pounds .. $0.25
PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35
Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21
Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75
ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10

The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."

 

Am I missing something? If you only have room for a box end wrench how are you going to use those socket-style extractors? Not trying to be a jerk, I just don't get it.

fwiw many cycles of heat + penetrant has always worked for me. Hose it down, heat it up, try to wiggle loose with vice grips, repeat until success. Sometimes it takes a really long time, but it has never failed me.

 

I think you missed this:

If not Metrinch does also make open and closed end wrenches.

 

Ahh. . . I see. They looked round in the pic, but presumably the wrenchable part is just not visible.

 

Great help you guys! outstanding suggestions and help-Yukon that is excellent detail. I am going to brew up some of that mix just to test it out-love hearing actual scientific detail- most helpful sir.

No local Ace Hardwares had Irwin sets but I found a set of bolt extractors at Harbor Freight. They are just sockets that grab better on the reverse -not good sockets for fastening down just for removing. The Harbor freight set is just sockets-no wrenchable head but we shoved it on the offending nut as far as possible and then used a block of wood shim to shove it on to seat it on the stripped nut. Then the vice grips had a good round surface to grab onto-we padded the teeth with electrical tape just to cushion the mating surface and my son got that sucker to loosen and then come off the idler pulley bolt.

As frustrated as I was last evening -tonite I am all smiles and the world is good again. Now the nut is stuck within the extractor-we are going to deep freeze it overnight and smack the socket a bit tomorrow to get it out of there. Not overly worried about that.

xfactor I did try one session of torch-who knows perhaps more would have helped but I was scorching the belt and all the grease in there, appreciate the suggestion sir.

mt goat/Dale I do believe I have heard of those Metrinch sockets before and I will watch for those. Seems like a great design.

I love that harbor freight. Bailed my butt out again of a jam..

and all you guys rock.

 

edit -it was a nut that I was destroying-not a bolt head. I edited the original post #11. And here is a better picture link showing how the Irwin bolt grip products have a more wrenchable head for their base-a better design for sure when space is minimal.

http://www.amazon.com/Irwin-394001-B...0790309&sr=1-2

thanks again guys!

 

Yeah they used to be sold on infomercials many many years ago, I found a used set for cheap in a pawn shop about 10 years ago. After using them for a few years and liking them, I decided to look for some larger 1/2" drive Metrinch sockets and found some on ebay for a pretty good price. Be careful though because there are now some crappy versions (or maybe counterfeit) sets sold that are 12 point sockets. I hate using 12 point sockets on hex head fasteners, that's the quickest way to round off a hex head. Save the 12 point sockets for 12 point bolts and nuts. IMHO use only 6 point sockets on hex head fasteners.