Removing broken stud - part 2

Tried welding a nut to the stud, no good. not enough material to grab.

Spent a good amount of time with the drill and all sorts of bits but no good, and now my shoulder is killing me:beat:

Managed to get a decent size hole in there, got my "easy out" bit in about 1/2" (I know, not enough) and broke the bit:mad:

Think I'll try the torch routine. Local hardware sells a 2 tank portable acetylene kit for 35 bucks. Should give me 20 minutes of flame. Can anyone go over the procedure? I have some welding gloves and mask. should be safe. Won't the heat affect the body around the stud I'm trying to remove?

If all else fails, my body guy wants to remove the entire section, get to the stud, then weld the whole section back on. (FYI - This is 1 of the 2 lower fender bolts)

Jay, do you have enough of the bolt to even grab after you heat it? Its not gonna just fall out after heat is applied...it just makes it much easier to unscrew. While Im a big fan of using heat, you hafta be very careful with it, especially around body panels. And you should be able to pick up something for less than $35. Hell, Ive even used those $5 mini-torches from Harbor-Freight before with success. The good thing about them is that theyre small enough for tight spots and the flame is very small (but very hot) so you can heat smaller areas more precisely. But normally I use a Bernz-O-Matic. Ive never had to break out my oxy-acetylene rig for a bolt before cuz the Bernz-O-Matic gets plenty hot and you can get one of those for less than $35.

How much is left after all your drilling? I had to drill out both sides on mine, it's a big pita, but it worked - the trick is to use cutting oil so you don't dull/burn the bits ;) Now that you have an e-out in there, just heat it enought to get that out, then go back to the drilling.
M

tHERE is a small piece that I can barely grab. I'm gonna give it one last shot on Thursday. Heat, get the easy out removed, drill whatever I can. If that doesn't work my body guy is gonna section the whole area out, take it to his shop and burn it out.

thanks fellas!

Heck!! Don't cut the whole section out :eek: You can drill it out just fine. Another trick I learned is to alternate the drill bit sizes. I started with a small one obviously, but would switch to larger sizes frequently in order to keep progressing. The other reason to keep switching is that you don't need to drill through the entire bolt, you only need to drill to the depth of the female threads. So, if the bolt is 3/4" long, but only 1/2" of it is 'in the threads', then that's all you need to drill!

Where in NJ are ya, there's a bunch of us in the area that would bring drills and make swiss cheese outta that thing for ya :D
M

I think I have to agree with M.

I know it sucks and is a pain in the butt :eek:

Keep on drilling.

You will GET IT


Good Luck,

novamaniac

As I mentioned, I'm going back Thursday to keep at it. I agree, removing the whole section is a lot of work. I'm saving that as a last resort.

The car is in Brick, NJ. Anybody that wants to stop by is more than welcome. I have plenty of gatorades on tap! No alcohol allowed at my friends house. don't worry, once I get the car back home for assembly (Belmar), cold ones will be-a-plenty.

I have used left handed drill bits and a reversible drill to remove broken bolts. They have the advantage that the rotation tends to back the threads out as it cuts the material. Again start small and move to larger bit sizes.

Good Luck

I had a set of heads with broken exhaust manifold studs. I used a torch and those things from Craftsman that are suposed to be used for rounded off nuts and bolts. I had one in the set that was the right size, tapped it onto the broken studs lightly with a hammer and it worked perfectly.

Colin, what tool are you talking about? Maybe I pick it up and bring it with, just in case,

These..........
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Hand+Tools%2C+General+Purpose&pid=00952160000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Bolt-Out%2C+Taps+%26+Dies&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
They are designed to remove nuts or bolts that are rounded or damaged. The bolts I removed were broken off and they worked fine for that. I was surprised that it worked. Sometimes if you spray it pretty heavy with Liquid Wrench and let it soak for a day or two it makes it easier to get out.

I've sprayed them with PB50, then heated it, then sprayed it again - that worked pretty good on bolts that aren't upside down :o
M