A picture of what is wrong.

[Karl]

Good luck with this one. I had a CB650 for 10 years and had almost constant trouble with this particular bolt. Assuming the filter housing is still in place, I can't see that penetrating oil can help you -- can't get to the threads, right? I do suspect that warming it up is a good idea.

Naturally, since this is a bugger, if you can obtain a professional tool for extraction, you'll have more success. However, if your looking to try some different things first, think about this:

File two flat sides on the bolt (directly opposite of each other!). Find a box end wrench that fits what's left of the bolt head. Apply torque!

It's not foolproof and you have to be patient (do a good job filing nice flat surfaces...this is where I usually get lazy and screw up the whole job). Another problem could be that given it's really stuck, the resulting "head" may not provide enough surface to get sufficient torque.

However, I think this might be easier and more effective than "re-heading" with a dremel.

[Karl]

Do you have space to be able to file two flat sides on the bolt head so you can get a standard open end wrench on it?

Earl

:-D Great minds think alike?

[Kratzer]

Are your vise grips top quality? I had a similar problem and my "great neck" brand vise grips couldn't swing it. I had to get a nice pair of napa lifetime to get it off.

You can get a cheap set of bolt extractors at harbor freight, if you want to chance that level of quality.

Like previously mentioned, you can try filing. Might as well, because the bolt extractor is going to total that bolt.

[seuadr]

i've had good luck with rounded bolt heads by tapping on the next lower size socket/box end ( 6 point only! ) and going from there. if you can get another bolt, the other thing you could try if nothing else works is getting a die grinder and cutting the head off the bolt so you can remove the cover, then getting the rest of the bolt removed with so much more to grab on to. buddy of mine had a 78 cb750k.. similar problem. thats what we ended up doing.

[KRISTI'SGS550]

Wow, you guys are great. I have a lot of great ideas to try today. I hope one of these will work! They all seem to make sense and it sounds like everyone has experience to back the ideas up with. I will try all I can and report back.

Cory

[KRISTI'SGS550]

Guys, it's off! Finally, after about a month of fooling with this bolt it is out. Thanks for the help. I ended up using a Craftsman 12mm bolt grip. It worked marvelously. Thank you again for all the great ideas. It really helped me a lot I hope it helps more later down the road as well.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00934506000P?keyword=bolt+grip

Cory

[Karl]

Freakin' Grand! Congratulations :-D(I bet it felt great to break that bugger loose). I always hated that bolt on my 650. My Honda dealer told me to buy the best quality socket in that size I could find and use only that on the bolt (after I replaced it with a new one).

Thanks for the review on the Craftsman product. Tell me how it worked...I can't really tell from the online catalog how they grip the bolt head.

[KRISTI'SGS550]

Now that I have the bolt off I need to find one to replace the old one. The threads look great, unfortunately the head is really screwed up. The original part is discontinued, so I will have to find one on ebay. I found this one with a bigger bolt head 17mm, compared to 13mm for $15. Not too bad of a deal. I just need to wait for a pay day.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35595&viewitem=&item=360035883636&_trksid=p3907.m29

Karl,
the way the bolt grip works is that it has reverse threads inside the bolt. So I pounded a 12mm bolt grip into my rounded 13mm bolt. When it was nice and snug I took my 1/2" socket wrench, locked it into the bolt grip and put all my weight into budging the bolt. The bolt grip couldn't slip off because of the reverse threading inside. So all the bolt could do was loosen, and it did just that.

I am so excited to move onto something else on this bike.

Cory

[Karl]

Thanks for the review.

[Flying Fish]

I've had the same problem on my 550/4, ended up destroying the bolt aswell.

A 550 bolt may well fit your 650. You could try asking these guys :- http://forums.sohc4.net/

[KRISTI'SGS550]

no prob, I hope it helped out.

Cory