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D'oh! Stranded with broken starter bolt.

Blue85

Blue85

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I've had the K5 back to its usual business of exploring, but now we're stuck. The inner starter bolt is broken off in the block. My hope is to do the thread repair at home (about 40 miles), instead of performing an extraction on this dirt road.

Any tips? My plan is to shove another 3/8 5" bolt into the hole to prevent the starter motor from turning the nose away from the flexplate. Maybe work a jack or prybar against the starter to keep it from lifting off the block and try for a start.

I don't want to tear up the teeth, so I may give up soon and call roadside assistance. If they can't get here, I have an assistant on the way and it would be a very short pull.
 
Blue85 said:
I've had the K5 back to its usual business of exploring, but now we're stuck. The inner starter bolt is broken off in the block. My hope is to do the thread repair at home (about 40 miles), instead of performing an extraction on this dirt road.

Any tips? My plan is to shove another 3/8 5" bolt into the hole to prevent the starter motor from turning the nose away from the flexplate. Maybe work a jack or prybar against the starter to keep it from lifting off the block and try for a start.

I don't want to tear up the teeth, so I may give up soon and call roadside assistance. If they can't get here, I have an assistant on the way and it would be a very short pull.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the best plan, IMO.
Just be careful when applying pressure with the jack. :dunno:
 
Blue85 said:
I've had the K5 back to its usual business of exploring, but now we're stuck. The inner starter bolt is broken off in the block. My hope is to do the thread repair at home (about 40 miles), instead of performing an extraction on this dirt road.

Any tips? My plan is to shove another 3/8 5" bolt into the hole to prevent the starter motor from turning the nose away from the flexplate. Maybe work a jack or prybar against the starter to keep it from lifting off the block and try for a start.

I don't want to tear up the teeth, so I may give up soon and call roadside assistance. If they can't get here, I have an assistant on the way and it would be a very short pull.
Click to expand...
My 75 GMC had a 2x4 driven up between the oil pan and starter to keep it in place. It was painted red so it was easy to find whe it fell out on the farm.
 
Update: reinstalled starter with one bolt, had my son hold a 2nd bolt in the hole (probably 3/16 of depth into the block) and it started right up. Next stop was the garage. Now I have to take inventory of drills and such and probably drill it out.

The other bolt was so tight I doubt any extractor will do anything. It's probably all drill and if things go south, step from 3/8 to 7/16? I'll replace both bolts. I think they've been in there since the 90s.
 
Do you still have the brace on the front of the starter?
 
toomany said:
Do you still have the brace on the front of the starter?
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No, it never had one on my watch. I should actually see if there's anything there to connect to. I thought they just came on 6.2s.
 
Blue85 said:
No, it never had one on my watch. I should actually see if there's anything there to connect to. I thought they just came on 6.2s.
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Gas motors had them as well but most get discarded on the first swap - damn shame.

BTW, glad it started up for ya !
 
Left handed drill bit if you get lucky it will unscrew, if not you still getva hole for extractor
 
Since there is no thread in the part of the hole that's exposed, the plan is to start with the biggest drill bit that fits - to mark the center. I'll make a depth gauge from a pick or something, marked from the good hole, so I don't drill past the bolt. Then small bit, working up to bigger, all left-hand where available, ending with 5/16" (this is very close to the recommended tap size for 3/8"). Extractors will be tried at intermediate stages, but only with small torque because drilling out about 1/2" of bolt is better than drilling out extractor plus 1/2" of bolt.
 
It looks like there were 2 different lengths of starter braces over the years. It looks like something that could be easily fabricated.
 
Blue85 said:
Sometimes you get lucky or God is to credit. I was barely drilling and Bam!

View attachment 509616

Could it have been bottomed out all these years?

View attachment 509617
Click to expand...
Nice !


Possible it was by the looks of the first few threads.

Before the replacement bolt gets installed take a pass with a bottoming tap and verify dimensions - possible it was never done when new.
 
tarussell said:
Possible it was by the looks of the first few threads.
Click to expand...
I hadn't noticed that. Could be. I was more looking at the shine at the longest extent of the bolt, like it had been bottomed out.

The good bolt I have is 5 5/8", from under the cap to the tip, with 3/8" thread, first knurl bigger (like 25/64") and long shank about 13/32. This isn't a common one I find for sale, but I also can't verify exactly what hardware I used decades back when the remote solenoid let me stop swapping starters.
 
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