Broken bolts.....need help

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agomez

Frijoles
Joined
Apr 29, 2005
Threads
27
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1,216
Location
Falkland Islands
okay all you guys that live in the rust belt how do you get a broken bolt out after you have sheared the head off....I know about a easy out and soaking it down with pb blaster but if you have some tricks of the trade tell me...thanks...
 
Couple options and I'll rely on others to give you other advice on how to do this..

1.. Vice grip. Front or back, sometimes back is easiet.
2. heat, more heat, soak, Parafin wax works well too.. heat, touch the wax to it, wax will soak in and help.. PB Blaster works as well but bit messier.
3. Left handed drill bits.. Tricky but works wonders.. Drill down center with left handed drill bits, it might just grab it and pull it out or at least leaves you a hole to break an eazyout in there..
4. Eazy out.. Dunno why they call em easy, they suck for me.. And if they break the steel in the easy out is harder and stronger than any drill bit you have..
5.. Welder.. If you can weld a nut to what's remaining that works very well.. Then the heat from the weld penetrates the bolt..
6. TORCH.. Smoke wrench.. Gas ax.. get it hot, douse it, will break the bond

Combo of many of the above processes works.

And if all else fails.. A nutzert tool is your friend.. as is antiseize..
 
Forget EZ Outs. I call them EZ Snaps. They snap off in the bolt, then you're really screwed.

Soak with PB Blaster or AeroKroil. Drill down thru the center, use nice sharp bits and go slow. Sneak up on the sizes until you get to tap size, by then the heat of drilling with the penetrant should bust the remaining thread chunks free.

Worst case, drill out to one size over and re-tap or go Helicoil.
 
Forget EZ Outs. I call them EZ Snaps. They snap off in the bolt, then you're really screwed.

Soak with PB Blaster or AeroKroil. Drill down thru the center, use nice sharp bits and go slow. Sneak up on the sizes until you get to tap size, by then the heat of drilling with the penetrant should bust the remaining thread chunks free.

Worst case, drill out to one size over and re-tap or go Helicoil.

thats what I'm looking for....thanks...
 
Broken rusty bolts has got to be the biggest PITA and you can spend more time doing that than it takes to do the whole job. Once you have broken one on something you're working on its best to review your strategy before you start on the rest of them.
 
As far as having to helicoil - you're far better off with timeserts. Otherwise kroil and LH bits or the welded nut.
 

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