Patience Needed....sheared bolt head

[tkent02]

Works for me. You will want to heat the area in the head that the bolt screws into and not the bolt itself.

I will disagree with this. Get the bolt itself good and hot, red if you can. The bolt will expand and will break the bond between the bolt and the head. As the heat transfers into the head, the aluminum will expand more than the cooling steel bolt, it will become loose. Then once it's cooled some, no longer red, twist the bolt lightly back and forth until it starts to move. Go easy, back and forth, no big twists. I have heard from NormK on this forum that wax applied while things are hot works wonders at getting down into the threads, but I have not tried this.

[Greenbraes]

AT LAST!!!! got it out, to be honest is was a bit of a worry but thanks to you guys the positive info did the trick...thank you very much...I think a few glasses of vodka might be on order now..lol

here is the wee blitter (lots of heat and release oil was it's enemy)


cheers

RB

[bccap]

Congrats. It's nice to hear a broken bolt story with a happy ending.

[ScrumDown]

VERY COOL! That you got it loose.

[Greenbraes]

OK guys I have been cleaning off the old gasket and checking the hole threads and I think I might know why the head on this stud was sheared off, I may be wrong but just a heads up in case someone goes down this road. There are 2 different lengths of studs that hold the cam cover on, 35mm and 45mm

WARNING

the 35mm will fit and torque up in a 45mm hole
the 45mm will not torque up against the cover, it bottoms out with about 2mm to spare (or is does on the head on my bike)...I think the previous owner may have snapped the head off trying to tighten the stud up

I hope this stops at least one guy from possible disaster.

thanks again

RB

[Johnny Drummond]

Hey Greenbraes,Glad to hear you got it out, I had similar issues with an exhaust stud on my GS when I bought it,as I was renewing the rings anyway I took off the head and after 3 hours with vise grips and oxy/acetelene torch got the little bugger out- then promptly hit it repeatdly with a 18lb sledehammer,chanting the mantra "that'll teach ya, ya b*****d" over and over until I felt better(about 10 blows did the trick for me).I kept it and before I do any work now it's taken out of it's box and stared at just to remind me to be careful(and always use A2 M8 stainless steel allen screws from INOX on ANY exhaust I replace or work on),Absolut Blue label works for me or maybe Ballentines if you feel rich!!!

[Good Times]

then promptly hit it repeatdly with a 18lb sledehammer,chanting the mantra "that'll teach ya, ya b*****d" over and over until I felt better(about 10 blows did the trick for me).I kept it and before I do any work now it's taken out of it's box and stared at

That's some funny stuff!

This is a man almost pushed over his limit. I usually wind up hurting myself when I do something like that. I probably would have broken an ankle with the sledge hammer or something like that.

[D-Mac]

Glad to head you got it done. It's amazing what a little broken fastener can do to your mind.

I always start out carefully, but usually end up with a hammer in one hand, a torch in the other, and screaming at the bike while surrounded by lots of wrenches/saws/lubricants/dremel + drill parts, and beverage cans.

[hampshirehog]

As well as cursing and swearing, a hammer, heat and penetrating oil I think a cup of tea usually helps as well.

And a McVities Digestive.

Result.