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extracting broken bolts

jpdrake

jpdrake

1/2 ton status
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Oct 31, 2005
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so i went and wasted $15 @ napa to buy a 4pc spiral screw extractor kit. what a waste of money, i should have bought a 12 pack instead. i drilled the bolt through leaving the threads, then heated up the exhaust manifold then lightly taped the extractor in and tried to back it out and twisted the bit. wtf! ive got 5 bolts in the original alum rims to back out to get the hub covers on and one bolt in each exhaust manifold. so any advise on REMOVING broken bolts instead of drilling and tapping? ive got basic mechanical common sense why is this always a pain in the a$$?
 
i guess you get what you pay for. i wasnt sure if it was the tool or the operator. any other ideas to back em out?
 
On exhaust bolts it's almost impossible to extract them without drilling them out. Something that does work however if there is enough of the broken bolt to grab with something is to heat the area pretty good then apply beeswax to the bolt which will soak into the threads and once it cools it will back right out. Most hardware stores sell the beeswax (comes as a small round block usually). DO NOT try removing the bolt while it is still hot, cool is ok but if it's still hot the bolt may just twist until it breaks.
 
now thats something ive never heard of, ill give that a try. of course mine broke inside the manifold. LMC sells them for $150 a side HS!
 
I've never had luck with the piral extractors, but have had good success with the tapered ones...

Rene
 
i plug wled a nut on the broken bolt and let cool then heat with oxy/act tourch around the bolt area and then cool quick with water. works 95% of the time. and other 5% needs machine shop time or replacement.

and lots of exaust bolts now are hardened in newer rides and good luck drilling them .
 
dose cooling w/ penatrating oil work as well? or dose it just evaperate?
ill take some pics tomorow and show my headaches.
 
just water works. the lubricant goes to smoke fast. all you are after is the sudden shock of cold water. i didnt beleve it till a old timer showed me it on frozen bleader screws. and i have used it ever since then.

then the plug welding of a nut idea i got almost 20 years ago from a atv magazine tech section of the month that readers send in. thay used it for broken footpeg bolts. i tryed it and bam out thay come.
 
see i didnt know that about the water/oil. ive wasted so must penat. oil.
i like the idea of welding a nut on but that brings me back to why im in this mess. the studs snapped when i was backing off the nuts. but the again the heat and water should fix that?
 
jpdrake said:
i cant wait to try both. id dont have an oxy ac torch just a plumbers tourch.
Click to expand...

That will work fine. Just heat the area up as best you can and then put the beeswax on the broken bolt or the area surrounding the bolt so the beeswax can penetrat into the threads, once it cools of you should be golden.
 
the chill shock method does work well, when i was pipe welding, i've seen them chill shock pipes to strip the rust scale off the inside of pipes. they let them get really hot w/steam and then run water thru the pipe and it busts the rust right off....also pinging metal w/a hammer, make the piece ''ring'' by repeatedly tapping w/hammer will break rust alot of times, i've used that method before on large bolts & nuts on pipe flanges.
 
I had a broken bolt on the header of my Dakota. My "old school" muffler guy welded a nut on the stub of the bolt, let it cool and then took it off with a ratchet. I recently saw something somewhere (can't remember where) that Loctite has a new product for removing rusted bolts. It freezes the bolt (I think it's liquid Nitrogen) and this breaks the rust loose, so the bolt will come out in a normal manner.
 
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