broken bolt repair, ford explorers!

[FunkyfullWidth]

I find myself having to extract/repair broken bolts a lot lately. I've been getting quite a few ford explorer transmission to pull, and anyone that's had the joy of pulling one out knows, don't bother without a set of torches handy.

The exhaust studs at the cast iron manifold love to break. I don't even bother trying without getting them hot anymore. When they do break though your in for some trouble. Two ways to remedy this, depending on how much stud is left. With a flush break with the manifold. Drill/extract/tap. If there's some stud left you can heat up the manifold, easier said than done. Cast iron is an awesome heat sink and makes for a time consuming process.

Another common broken bolt on exploders are on the crossmember. Almost all on the bottom of the frame have been breaking on me lately. The vertical bolts 9 times out of 10 are good. These bolts I go about differently. If there's enough meat sticking out (with the crossmember out of the way) to get vice grips on i'll heat up around the bolt red hot and extract. If the bolt broke flush with the frame I used to drill and tap. that ***** though. Drilling a bolt out is an art in and of itself. Lately what i've been doing is building the bolt up with weld, being careful not to weld it to the frame, then heating it up and backing it out with vice grips.

I'm ASSuming that most peoples techniques are close to what I do, but post up what you guys do to extract/repair broken fasteners!

 

[fnieto]

What ever works to remove them. From ez-outs to welding a nut on whats left. I have also torched out larger broken bolts from heavy equipment leaving the threads intact, like I said what ever works. I do soak with penetrating oil prior to removal.

 

[gasgas17]

Have you tried a 644G ?

 

[sberry]

I dun this a bit myself. A welder a torch and a battery drill are the real tools. I have eze outs and some other things but 99.5% is with those tools. That and straight jaw Vise Grips in both 6R and 10R along with a 4 1/2 grinder. I have a ton of other specialty stuff but those are really what works and gets used.
Had I known anyone would have cared would have tossed them all in a coffee can over the years to see all the schemes.

 

[sberry]

I do them for others but its really rare for me to get a broken bolt anymore. I imagine it wouldn't be so if working on others equipment and old cars, I have replaced most anything of my own and I stop and don't break if its humanly possible.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The exhaust studs at the cast iron manifold love to break.

That is nothing new ! It has been happening for over 50 years. Oh, and the shop I worked at back then was part of a major chain and had a "no open flame" policy !

A few cars "back in the day" actually used a through bolt. Those were great. Chisel off the nut and replace the whole thing.

Chevy small blocks used to use 3 fairly skinny studs back then. If you were lucky you could chisel of the nuts without breaking the stud, Of course the stud was so rusted that a new nut would likely snap it off. We started using brass coupling nuts (about 2-3 times taller than a typical nut) and just cross threading them on to what was left of the stud. Kind of pricey, but it worked well.

 

[Bondo]

I find myself having to extract/repair broken bolts a lot lately. I've been getting quite a few ford explorer transmission to pull, and anyone that's had the joy of pulling one out knows, don't bother without a set of torches handy.

The exhaust studs at the cast iron manifold love to break. I don't even bother trying without getting them hot anymore. When they do break though your in for some trouble. Two ways to remedy this, depending on how much stud is left. With a flush break with the manifold. Drill/extract/tap. If there's some stud left you can heat up the manifold, easier said than done. Cast iron is an awesome heat sink and makes for a time consuming process.

Another common broken bolt on exploders are on the crossmember. Almost all on the bottom of the frame have been breaking on me lately. The vertical bolts 9 times out of 10 are good. These bolts I go about differently. If there's enough meat sticking out (with the crossmember out of the way) to get vice grips on i'll heat up around the bolt red hot and extract. If the bolt broke flush with the frame I used to drill and tap. that ***** though. Drilling a bolt out is an art in and of itself. Lately what i've been doing is building the bolt up with weld, being careful not to weld it to the frame, then heating it up and backing it out with vice grips.

I'm ASSuming that most peoples techniques are close to what I do, but post up what you guys do to extract/repair broken fasteners!

Ayuh,.... A trick I learned a long, Long time ago, is to heat the broken piece Cherry Red, 'n Quench it,....

Then lube with oil, 'n turn it off/ out,....

With the thermal shock of Quenchin' it, I've removed exhaust clamp nuts, that didn't even look like a nut, off threads that no longer look like threads,...

Heatin' broken pieces helps, Quenchin' 'em makes it Work,.....

 

[stage20]

Welding a nut on the broken piece works well. If you can't weld a nut, try a long grade 8 bolt smaller than the piece you are removing. It will sit in the middle of the old bolt and give you something to hold onto easily while you tack.