removing broken bolts

[grumpyvette]

now the method that you use will vary with the location and type/size of the bolt, and how far below the surface it broke off, in some cases a NUT can be welded on and the combo of the larger grip surface and the heat of the welding will loosen the threaded section fairly easily

THE TRICK with sucessfully useing easy outs correctly is that you need to center the drilled hole (it should be about 2/3-3/4 of the bolt dia.)and drill it ALL the way thru the remaining bolt both centered and CONCENTRIC with the bolt centerline and TO SOAK the bolt threads LIBERALLY over 30 minutes with a GOOD PENETRATING OIL that can reach both ends of the bolt (I strongly advise »

http://www.freealloil.com/ )

http://loctitefreezeandrelease.com/

most failures are due to rushing the job,
(not soaking a MINIMUM of 30 minutes)
(not useing a good corrosion removing penetrating oil)
(appling too much torque to the easyout, if it won,t back out easily in most cases you did not use enougth oil or waited long enought)
(or and this is most of the time, not drilling the hole both concentric and all the way thru the bolt)
reverse twist drill bits can be useful
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... =17588969&
http://www.crustyquinns.com/tech/easyout.html

http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/may2003/techtotech.htm

"How would YOU go about trying to remove a cast iron exhaust manifold that has been in place for??? 20 years?"

well Id sure soak it down liberally and often over several days if I could wait that long,with a good penetrating oil, and Id use a small hammer to tap hard on each bolt head a good deal while I was appling that oil to allow the vibration to work the oil flow into more places,Id also get some rounded bolt head removal sockets

Okay how about tricks for keeping them from turning into the rusted ready to snap pieces of junk, in the first place?"

use grade 8 stainless and a coat of ANTISEIZE paste on the threads durringg assembly tends to prevent the problem

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stor...atalogId=10002&storeId=10001&categoryId=22449

are you aware that there ARE REVERSE TWIST drill bits available, that you can order, in many cases just drilling the broken bolt out with one thats just slightly smaller in dia than the broken bolt section will cause the bolt fragment to back itself out of the hole its in.

http://www.texaspowerwagon.com/mnfldblt.htm

http://www.hermanscentral.com/departmen ... -11545.cfm

http://www.hermanscentral.com/product/1964-3950.cfm

 

[grumpyvette]

first your not going to use a TAP to remove anything (TAPS) are used top cut or clean threads,
ok, calm down it happens to everyone sometimes,
second it appears that bolt locked in place due to corrosion,since its located next to the coolant passage in the cylinder head thats not totally unexpected, that can be avoided in future engine build-ups to a large extent by coating the bolt threads on installation with a light coat of ANTI-SEIZE aluminum paste, available at almost all auto parts stores for use on spark plug threads

theres several tools available,

http://www.recoil.com.au/p_range_DrillOut.asp

http://www.newmantools.com/drillout/how1.htm

the first thing Id do is place several magnets around the bolt and fill the intake and lifter valley with rags to trap any metallic chips you make drilling, then ID carefully center a drill on a dent in the center of the broken off bolt that I made with a center punch,drill all the way thru the bolt (thats important) with a carefully centered 1/8"-1/4" drill (start small and work up in drill size from 1/8" to 1/4")) and spray a good amount of P B blaster spray oil into the drilled bolt hole,then Id use a propane torch to heat the bolt, between the heat and oil it should become looser, then Id try drilling it out, most hardware stores sell 5/16" REVERSE ROTATION DRILL BITS,AND THATS MY FIRST CHOICEbut you may need one of the reverse rotation bolt extractors like I linked to (SEARs and SNAP-ON have similar products ,BUT AFTER DRILLING THAT BOLT TO GET OIL TO BOTH ENDS, a REVERSE ROTATION DRILL is comonly all youll need, but if that does not work.(and it usually does)but youll need a hole drilled thru the center of the bolt and oil and heat applied before useing any drill out extractor, to make sure the orriginal threads don,t get dammaged so be sure you do that first

http://www.freealloil.com/

you might want to try this I found it works even better than most common penetrating oil sprays

you can try this
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/brokenbolt.htm

http://www.gis.net/~manjo/removing_broken_studs_bolts.htm

http://www.newmantools.com/drillout/how1.htm

http://www.freealloil.com/freealloil/freeall.html

http://www.crustyquinns.com/tech/easyout.html

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki ... _fasteners

http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/may2003/techtotech.cfm

if you can drill thru the center of the broken bolt with a bit approximately 2/3 the diam. of the broken bolt, until the bit goes ALL the way thru then soak the $%^ out of it with FREEALL penetrating oil,(this stuffs amazing) this will allow the oil to soak in from both ends of the broken threaded section, let it soak at least 30 minute while you re-apply more spray oil every few minutes, then insert the easy out and gently twist the broken bolt remains out of the threaded hole, BTW heating and cooling the bolt, helps. heat with a propane torch the cooling it with the spray oil helps to loosen its grip on the threads if its really stuck :grin: