Snapped off a bolt head today

[MechanicforLife]

Whatsup guys I need some help ASAP I was working on my grandfathers GMC today and I was removing the Thermostat housing bolt first one came out ok and the second one snapped off completely from the stud to the head , In other words snapped in half and left less than 1/8 of an inch bolt sticking out of the manifold, The bolts are very rusted. This car has been a pain to me with other probs. How can I get this little stud out Ive tried a few different things bolt out spray/vise grips and it wont even grab on enough to turn it. Thanks in advance
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YZ250F

 

[Deafautotech]

is the broke stud are inside manifold or it have stud little out of manifold? if inside, i would just drill it and try twist (extractor) it to pull it out OR drill it and make a tap in for new thread and put helicoil or put right bolt in with tap in.

 

[CAT_serviceman927]

Do you have access to an oxy/acetylene torch? Heat is a mechanics best friend when it comes to rusty bolts. Even a little propane or mapp gas torch might help.

 

[chammyman]

you need heat and I don't mean hold it betwen your fingers, either get the burning bottles onto it or at least a blowlamp or if you have one a mig welder and weld a nut onto it.

 

[jay50]

If you're going to be a "mechanic for life", better get used to the broken bolts and all the 'cussin and "hair-pullin" it causes. LOL

If you have access to a MIG welder, you might try welding a nut on top of the broken piece. If it is a late model (computer controlled)/ECM truck, be sure to unhook battery and ground cables or you can fry the expensive ECM.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Drill it and try an ez-out. 2 tips with that:

1. Get the ezouts with the hex end on it that have the short ezout tip on it, MUCH less likely to break then the standard style that use a tap handle.

2. Drill damn straight down the center. If the ez-out doesn't work, find out what drill bit is needed to tap that size bolt, and drill through with that size bit. 9 times out of 10, it'll chip up what's left of the bolt and you'll be left with a clean hole. If not, get a pick and clean it up. If that doesn't work, you'll have to chase the threads.

I do this all the time on jets, it's no big deal.

 

[MechanicforLife]

Okay guys thanks

Yeah nissan I figured drill it out Im going for it
Ill keep you posted
________
R100S

 

[foxx_good]

http://www.thebugshop.org/bsfqtool.htm
you can try this link its a pretty good tutorial for this situation

 

[wrenchr]

you need heat and I don't mean hold it betwen your fingers, either get the burning bottles onto it or at least a blowlamp or if you have one a mig welder and weld a nut onto it.

This method has worked for me!!

 

[dxdexter]

As stated above, if you can weld a nut to the exposed stud, this is the easiest way. The heat from the weld will soak down the threads and expand the metal. Let it cool and then try to turn. The expansion and contraction from the heat will help break any bond between the threads from rust or corrosion. I have done this many times.

 

[Junkman]

One of the problems with the thermostat housing bolts is that many times, the bottom of the bolt is always exposed to the coolant, and the threads get jammed up with the crud that is in the radiator. One way to tell is to feel with your finger inside the thermostat hole. If the bolt goes straight through, it might be best to try to drill it out. I have never had good luck with broken bolts. Seems that there is always a reason that the bolt broke in the first place, and once you figure out the reason, the solution isn't very far behind. I like welding a nut to the top, but if the threads are badly rusted, even that doesn't always work. If you get it turning, then loosen and tighten and slowly bring it out, using lots of penetrating oil.

 

[garfunkle24]

Drill it and try an ez-out. 2 tips with that:

1. Get the ezouts with the hex end on it that have the short ezout tip on it, MUCH less likely to break then the standard style that use a tap handle.

2. Drill damn straight down the center. If the ez-out doesn't work, find out what drill bit is needed to tap that size bolt, and drill through with that size bit. 9 times out of 10, it'll chip up what's left of the bolt and you'll be left with a clean hole. If not, get a pick and clean it up. If that doesn't work, you'll have to chase the threads.

I do this all the time on jets, it's no big deal.

Nissan

I was thinking of getting those. Do they really work that much better than a regular EZ out? Seems by the time I get to an EZ out there's a 80% likelihood i'm gonna break it. At the shop I always weld a washer then a nut, but on the road extractors are the only option. I see Snap-On has them as part of their big extractor sets now.

 

[MechanicforLife]

Heres what it looks like now I tried the drilling method, but the thing just wont budge. I admit though a little bit more work it will probably come out I drilled all the way through, but it didnt crack yet Im scared I drilled a little bit off to the side I might mess up the threads, the reason I didnt torch it is because when I got the car here it was leaking fuel all over the manifold so I rebuilt the carburetor, when I was taking off the thermostat housing bolts one snapped off.
________
spice weed

 

[chammyman]

ez uts are the crappest things ever IMO. I have never moved any broken studs or bolts ut with them.

mechanicforlife. is it a blind hole or open backed?

Go up in drill sizes until your at the threads either way

 

[MechanicforLife]

Openbacked I drilled all the way through, I agree with the bigger drill sizes but I just dont want to mess up these threads lol its not my car
________
Suzuki DR350SE

 

[chammyman]

open backed go up the size a bith then using a punch collapse the threads in, it will then come out.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Nissan

I was thinking of getting those. Do they really work that much better than a regular EZ out? Seems by the time I get to an EZ out there's a 80% likelihood i'm gonna break it. At the shop I always weld a washer then a nut, but on the road extractors are the only option. I see Snap-On has them as part of their big extractor sets now.

Yes, much much much better. I know Hansen makes them, that's what we get supplied with at work.

ez uts are the crappest things ever IMO. I have never moved any broken studs or bolts ut with them.

mechanicforlife. is it a blind hole or open backed?

Go up in drill sizes until your at the threads either way

Funny, I've removed tons of broken studs/bolts/screws with them. I wear out an 1/8" easy out every few months. I've used ez-outs on over 200 fasteners in a day, and not had one problem.

Now that you have that hole drilled off center, I recommend getting one of the hex ez-outs and trying them. If you know what you're doing, you can "pull a hole" and make it centered again, but you can also royally screw up. You have to use a bigger bit than the hole that's there, then angle the bit and walk it into the thick side, get it started, then straighten it out. If you do it right, you'll basically take nothing off the thin side.

 

[chammyman]

maybe thats because you work on either new cars or are extremely lucky. I have never met anyone who has every got anything out with one. But everyoen has broke one off...

The only time I have ever had success with the method was when i hammered in a torx bit and it gripped and pulled the bolt out. I tink the main issue is the more you tighten it in the more it expands the stud out.

 

[rickairmedic]

Crawler dont work on no stinkin cars at least not at work he plays with planes at work .


Rick

 

[Coach James]

Nissan, are you talking about the hex head ones that you drive over the broken fastener?

Coach

 

[chammyman]

Nissan, are you talking about the hex head ones that you drive over the broken fastener?

Coach

you mean like these?

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item..._ID=69959&group_ID=17831&store=uk&dir=catalog

these things are awesome.

I had an Irwin set but another boy in the old work got a full Beta set which were far superior.

These things are awesome

the internal ones are just a disaster though

 

[nissan_crawler]

maybe thats because you work on either new cars or are extremely lucky. I have never met anyone who has every got anything out with one. But everyoen has broke one off...

The only time I have ever had success with the method was when i hammered in a torx bit and it gripped and pulled the bolt out. I tink the main issue is the more you tighten it in the more it expands the stud out.

Funny, worked all the time on 50 year old farm equipment. Worked all the time on the '57. Worked all the time on the '41.

Nissan, are you talking about the hex head ones that you drive over the broken fastener?

Coach

No. Like these:

 

[trackwelder]

Be carefull not to break the ez out in the hole. If you do be prepared to go through many drills, they are a ***** to drill through. I would have placed a washer with a smaller hole than the bolt diameter on the broken bolt tacked it than weld a nut on top. This method has never failed for me.

 

[chammyman]

well again you have been lucking, luckier than the many many engineers and mechanics Ihave worked with and known for years.

The picture you put up also shows the parrallel ones which will work on bigger stuff but the small ones are tapered and like I said have nbever worked. But explains why my bang a torx bit in works as its not trying to expand out the hole

 

[nissan_crawler]

the tapered ones have always worked for me. It sounds like you're drilling to big and not leaving enough meat to keep it from expanding.

I've done the weld a nut on thing, had it break off flush, then used these to pull them right out.

If you had to bang a torx bit in, you expanded it.

 

[chammyman]

perhaps thats the issue. The thing is its always been small i.e. 10mm or 13mm bolts that snap.

Just when you do it a couple of times or see others do it you go with what you know works for sure and thats mostly been weld a nut to it.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I use them on #8 and #10 screws all the time.

 

[MechanicforLife]

My problem is a 13mm bolt, going to give up for the day lol. I dont have those type of tool all I got is 1 pair of vise grips and some, I said some drill bits, How much would a single ez out bit be for a 13mm?
________
gm foods

 

[trackwelder]

I have had good luck with the left hand drill bits. Grinding or filing flat and center punching makes a big difference.

 

[chammyman]

like I said drill it a bit more then collapse it, it's the easiest way to go with limited tools.

 

[Coach James]

Thanks nissan. Amazon has that set for ~$42.


Coach

 

[MechanicforLife]

Hey Nissan that hex set you posted a picture of is that for SAE only or can you use it for both SAE and Metric?
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buy easy vape vaporizer

 

[dxdexter]

Funny, I've removed tons of broken studs/bolts/screws with them. I wear out an 1/8" easy out every few months. I've used ez-outs on over 200 fasteners in a day, and not had one problem.

.

200 fasteners in one shift? I'm extremely lucky if I can remove a few in an hour.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Hey Nissan that hex set you posted a picture of is that for SAE only or can you use it for both SAE and Metric?

It doesn't matter, it goes by the size of drill bit you use, not the size of the fastener, so yes, good for both.

200 fasteners in one shift? I'm extremely lucky if I can remove a few in an hour.

Why? I can usually drill and ez-out a screw in under a minute. I ez-outed every exhaust stud in a v-6 block in under 4hours while in the vehicle.

 

[a390st]

I've been through about every broken fastener scenario there i, and if they are broken off, there is generally a good reason. We've been through dozens if not hundreds of ez-outs, welded nuts on, left handed drill bits, the whole works. If a LH drill bit won't bring it out, you're in for a job most times. I had some xtract-alloy for welding nuts to fasteners and that wasn't any better than anything else. I told my salesman and he couldn't believe it. Once he failed several times, he agreed. If it's "just a little stuck", it's no big deal. Unfortunately on heavy equipment and off-road junk, i haven't seen to much "just a little stuck".

 

[russlaferrera]

Braze a nut on top, get it cherry red. The heat will loosen the bolt. A EZ out may expand the bolt, as the hole is close to the threads.

 

[goodfellow]

Braze a nut on top, get it cherry red. The heat will loosen the bolt. A EZ out may expand the bolt, as the hole is close to the threads.

did one just like it the other day on lawn tractor.

I put a flat washer over the hole and MIG welded the top of the broken stud to the flat washer (basically just filled in the hole on the flat washer with a plug weld) Then I welded a nut to the flat washer and used a wrench on the nut to unscrew the stud.

 

[rsanter]

drill out as far as you can and then use a dremel to grind it out a little further till you start to see threads and then you can pull the remains out with a pick.
run a tap through the threads to clean the a bit.
the bolts you replace should be stainless and I usually put a thin smear of silicone on the threads before putting it back in

bob

 

[Speed-Racer]

I am not a fan of ezouts, they always seem to break on me. I like the drill extractor set sears has, same brand is sold on the tool trucks, I have attached a link below. They are basically a left handed drill, once you have drill thru a lot of the remaining bolt, you screw the threaded part down, it catches/shocks extracts the remaining bolt out. This tool is fantastic, plain cobalt left handed drill bits are also really good. Try soaking a lot of PB Blaster on the bolt, for me PB is a great product and better than anything else I have tried. A little heat from plumbers propane or mapp gas hand held torch would also help, but you mentioned gas is around.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00952152000P

 

[Speed-Racer]

I am not a fan of ezouts, they always seem to break on me. I like the drill extractor set sears has, same brand is sold on the tool trucks, I have attached a link below. They are basically a left handed drill, once you have drilled thru a lot of the remaining bolt, you screw the threaded part down, it catches/shocks extracts the remaining bolt out. This tool is fantastic, plain cobalt left handed drill bits are also really good. Try soaking a lot of PB Blaster on the bolt, for me PB is a great product and better than anything else I have tried. A little heat from plumbers propane or mapp gas hand held torch would also help, but you mentioned gas is around.

If you able to use heat from a small torch, after is is really hot, let a candle melt on the stud, the as the heat cools it will wick in the wax between the stud and threads. This trick my sound odd, but has works several times.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00952152000P

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