Sheared exhaust stud, help.

[nabrams]

Plan on taking at least a half hour drilling.

For exhaust studs/bolts that is a wildly optimistic time expenditure estimate for the drilling. If you follow the excellent advice given by themess (proceeding cautiously, slow drilling, stepping up bit sizes, etc.), it will more likely be 2 hours per stud/bolt - especially if you're a novice at this.
I've drilled out more of these buggers than I care to remember (just thinking about it makes me cringe). Going SLOWLY and CAUTIOUSLY is the key to success.

[belovedlion]

Broken Header bolt removal

Hooray it came out without damaging anything else, I actually called out when it released.
I used an Extractor screw I purchased for $12 Australian.
The broken Header bolt still had some good thread so I put a nut on the end thinking that it would give the bolt more support when I was drilling.
I was thinking at the time it would be great if I could weld and just welded the bolt on.
I was seriously considering using a trailer and just taking the bike to a mechanic as I really did not want to damage the head.
I centre punched the bolt and using a good drill on slow speed with a new bit I managed to slowly drill into the bolt using lots of WD40 to clean out the hole frequently.
When I finally got the Extractor screw to bite in the hole the broken bolt came out quite easily, upon removal I could see that I had drilled at an angle lucky I put the nut on the end as it held the mess in place.
I meticulously cleaned up the header bolt holes finally put on the Vance & Hines 4 into 1 pipes on my bike and took it for a short run and the bike is running very nice now.
Thankyou for the information it is always interesting and helpfull.

[Matchless]

We heard that loud shout of joy over hear!

I saw an interesting repair the other day. A bolt had broken off in the aluminium and was drilled out but the tread was damaged. The guy took a bit of aluminum rod, threaded it then drilled the messed up hole a bit bigger and tapped it to the same thread as the rod. He screwed the rod in with locktite and cut it off flush with the metal face. Then he drilled a new hole and just tapped it to the original size. No helicoil and you really have to look close to see what he had done. He showed me an aluminium master cylinder where the small bolts had stripped and he did the same - like new!

[themess]

Glad that it worked out!

[rphillips]

I've advised this before, Always when drilling a broken bolt or stud, use a left hand drill, not always, but many times, the heat & vibration of the drill & the turning backwards, the drill will hang, or snag, the part & back it out. If it doesn't, you still have a hole, just like the one you would have if you had used a right hand drill

[Rkt-Rch]

Just removed mine tonight !

Soaked with PB Blaster for a couple of minutes !!! Yes minutes and thought I would give them a try.

All 8 came right out, with no issues !! I was actually kinda worried about taking them out thinking since the bikes been out in weather (NEW ENGLAND Weather) for ?? how many years. Found a hole in the 4in1 header I need to weld before tunning her up. Sorry to say my header removal was a no headache job this time...

[Chuckster]

Had this happen on one of mine. Mine was so bad, it looked like it had actually "welded" itself in there. I cut it off as close to the edge as I could; filed it down as flat as I could; center punched it best I could; drilled it out with a 6mm bit instead of the 8mm it originally had; so I really ended up threading what was left of the original bolt stud that wouldn't come out. I liked that better than the idea of me getting into the aluminum if I got off a bit with an 8mm bit. I used a 6mm bolt and it's worked fine for me. Where you start your hole is what's going to make or break this deal though.

Before:


After:

[duaneage]

IIRC these are not blind holes so you MIGHT be able to get penetrating oil behind it from the other side of the head. The bolt faces down so oils tend to run away from the front side of the problem.

Mine have never been off, this year it's going to happen and I will replace them with studs and nuts. The bolts were a bad idea.

I'm going to try warming the engine up first and with the bolts hot give it a hit. I use an impact screwdriver that has a socket attachment. Just like removing stuck screws it seems to work good removing the bolts. The last one I took apart was a 750L head that sat for a few years. I really had to work four of them but they all came out.