Stripped bolt

[Anonymous]

So I took off the head of a exhust head bolt. I still have a little bit of body left. What do you suggest?


hot wax?
bolt extractor
WD40 every few days with a hammer?

I tried taking a hack saw to make slot for a screw driver but that did not work.

I am stuck!

[NICK!]

These are not pleasant. Best thing I found was to mig weld a nut to whats left and get a socket on it right away while its still hot. That works about 8 out of 10 times. When that failed I'd grind the stump flush with the head, center punch it and drill it until I got close to the aluminum and finish with a dremel until I could pull the bolt threads out like a cork screw. If the hole still looked ok I'd put in a helicoil and its finished. If the hole was bad or enlarged I'd drill and tap it out to the next size (and use a helicoil). The really correct way is to pull the head, strip it and send it out to have it lazered out with an EDM or whatever. In short, there is no pleasant solution to your problem. Wish I had a magic fix for you but I have tried everything and these are the only things that actually work. I know you probably don't have access to a mig or a dremel with the right attachments but I've tried to drill and ez out a lot of these and it never worked. You've got a steel bolt or stud in aluminum thats been heated and cooled umpteen milion times not to mention the rain etc. Good Luck.

[jimcor]

WD-40 is worthless for this. Use PB B'laster or SeaFoam Deep Creep. I've had excellent results with PB. Spray a couple three times a day, whack bolt end with a hammer, get a vise grips on it if you can. The pounding on the bolt is the key. If you find yourself getting nowhere, pause and spray it another day before you have nothing left to grip. You can get it out.

[LW_Icarus]

I just did the same to a header bolt on my 850, I ground it flat, center punched it and drilled it progressively larger until I could see just the barest bit of thread, then carefully used a tap to clear the debris, I used a pick to get the first couple threads clear to help line up the tap ( its an 8x1.25 tap)

I tried easy-outs and pb blaster/vice grips/hammering first, but the bolt was way seized and that wasnt working. was very rusted , funny all the others came right out no sweat.

have lots of patience, and if you drill it has to be perfectly centered. I poked a bit backwards in the hole next to the one I was worrking on to have some way of knowing where the drill needed to be.

a machine shop will extract that bolt for a small fee as well.

[duaneage]

definately assume the position. :roll: ](*,)

I threw away an 850 head because 5 of the bolts broke off clean and the head was not worth saving at that point anyway. Heat may work, but probably not. If it was stuck enough to sheer the bolt it is probably in love with the aluminum. Drill it out progressively and be prepared to helicoil. Hopefully it is one of the outside bolts, not hidden behind the frame.

[mark m]

get a vise grips on it if you can.

Better than vise grips is a small pipe wrench. It won't slip off and mangle the stud the same as the vise grips and the harder you twist, the harder it bites. Only works if you have some room to swing it, though...


Mark

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have the room to swing. I tried the vice grips and it is just eatting at the stud /body.


I am kind of unsure about drilling out the bolt and then tapping the hole. Something about creating more grooves sounds like I could be asking for trouble.

[fgh]

Did the same thing to my bike. Wound up taking the head off and drilling it out. I think I might have had some success w/Jimcor's method if I had thken the rear wheel off with the bike on it's center stand and then raised the front end so that the chenicals would flow toward the threads. My bolts were tilted slightly downward so that the chemicals didn't flow it the right direction. LOL

[duaneage]

I would consider studding the head so you can clean the threads off ahead of the nut instead of having the bolt going into the head. Most Hondas are stud instead of bolt and I think that is a better idea.The studs also provide some cooling.

[jimcor]

Actually I think there is some capillary action that goes on that allows the penetrant to run up the threads, so even tho' they are tipped forward the oil will still work its way in.

When I did the intake boots last week the screws were stuck tight. Now take a look at that screw head flush on the aluminum. No way your going to get oil in there right? Sprayed 'em with PB at the screw head and where manifold connects to the head. More of a mojo, good luck, thing than anything. Spayed 'em twice and pounded on each a couple three times. Next day they broke loose and every screw head but one was moist with PB Blaster. I'd try it. It worked for me.

But a key to making this work is whacking on that bolt to loosen it up.

[LW_Icarus]

the idea is to clean the old grooves more than create new ones, but I would exhaust all the easier solutions first. if you arent comfortable doing the job yourself then just pay a professional to do it for you. its a pain, but it may save the cost of a head.

I had my head off and on the bench when I did it, and I was in a fully equipped garage,with 3 full drill indexes full of cobalt drill bits, and an air drill. I wasn't comfortable trying it in my home garage with the crap drill motor I have