Dropped Bolt Retrieval

[Guest]

I dropped a stainless steel Allen head bolt into the engine(see picture). I tried retrieval with a magnetic tool on a gooseneck and it appears that the stainless steel is not attracted to the magnet. I'm looking for suggestions other than tear the motor apart. It appears to be in the crankcase area near the right side just under the contact breaker assembly, but that is of course sealed from the void where the bolt went. Is leaving it an option?

Suggestions would be happily welcome!

[Billyboy]

Oh heck. That's just your clutch!
Take out the 6 bolts, slide out your plates, find your bolt, inspect your plates, put the bolts back. Don't overtighten.

No biggie.

Just saw the "Ended up here" arrow. I'd still take out the clutch for better access.

[Big T]

Since you can't lift up the bike and shake it out of there (or can you?), you need to go farther than Billyboy suggests and pull the entire clutch including the outer basket

Then, you should be able to bend up a wire to drag that bolt out of there.

[Dave_17954]

I would pull the whole clutch basket assembly out then use one of those small mirrors on the end of a handle to look around inside the opening. you might even be able to reach it by hand. I definately would'nt leave it in there. I would use a flexible tool with a magnet on the end. The ones Ive seen with the little claws on the end arent magnatized at least the ones around here. My magnetic tool picks up stainless steel bolts.

[bonanzadave]

My magnetic tool picks up stainless steel bolts.

Them aint stainless. 100% anyway. A magnet will only pick up ferrous metal. Dont waste your time at the tool store asking for the stainless steel or aluminum magnet your friends told you to go get.

Pull the clutch basket. Youll need an impact wrench (air or cordless)

[Dave_17954]

maybe mines just the pretty chrome plated steel ones....
found this in the scientific forums and it sounds very scientific to me...........
I have been told that magnets don't stick to stainless steel. Yet, I have seen permanent magnets sticking to stainless steel. These were small neodymium magnets I purchased from All Electronics. They stick to every kind of stainless steel I could find at home and at work. Ceramic magnets don't.

This experiment is one more thing that tells me that experiments should be tried and not just dismissed because theory says something. Also, it's just interesting. I suspect that it's because fairly pure iron exists in small crystals near enough to the surface to be attracted to the magnet.

This also tells me that if you want to use a magnet to test whether a sample is stainless or not, either use a weaker magnet or know what you are doing. Ceramic magnets don't stick at all, as far as I can tell. A neodymium magnet will stick and hold up its own weight, but it is easily removed. I doubt there's much call to distinguish between stainless steel and nickel-copper alloys that don't stick even to neodymium magnets.

[Dreef1999]

I think it should be said that for all intents and purposes stainless steel is non-magnetic. There is still iron in the stainless steel but the vast majority is austenitic and thus non-magnetic.

DO NOT try to fish out a stainless bolt with a neodymium magnet because you are much more likely to stick your magnet to all of the carbon steel and then have a super strong magnet stuck insdie your engine.

If you have a strong magnet you can feel how faintly magnetic the stainless is. A normal fridge magnet won't stick at all.

[Flaggo60]

So after slow and deliberate work and learning more than I ever thought I wanted to about the innards of the clutch mechanism, I was able to get the clutch basket off and get a small mechanic's mirror in with a light. As luck (mine) would have it it was against the most inaccessible wall in there. Off to the dishwasher, scooped up the least favorite spoon, down to the grinder to make a groping tool and with a lot of fiddling the little sucker came out.

Lessons learned:
1. Keep a tighter grip on screws and other fasteners when working around engine voids.
2. Cover said engine voids because Lesson 1 will fail or be forgotten.
On the plus side I replaced the clutch plates (fibre) when I was in there. Brand new now. With 75,000 km on it, it wont hurt!

Thanks to all those who offered suggestions. I might be back if the clutch won't go back on!

[bwringer]

"Groping Tool"

I like that.


Glad it worked out!