So i have a 1953 Packard Clipper that should have had the thermostat changed three days ago. in the process of removing the housing, the back bolt decided to break off flush with the head. pain in the but but not a big problem right? Wrong...drilled it out and tried a bolt extractor from a friend. Ive never been too fond of them, but what could it hurt...well you guessed it, the extractor broke. FML....so now i moved onto welding a bolt to the little bit of thread showing, and trying to remove it with pretty intense heat. well this decided to take another chunk of the bolt off, making the broken bolt LOWER than the head surface! so i dont really know what to do now. absolutely any advice is appreciated. the hole is blind, ive considered trying to blow it out with a torch, but im worried about where the slag will go...will it just come out the top??? let me know what you guys think...
I take it the extractor is still wedged in there ? If so, you might try taking a very small, sharp chisel and start tapping the extractor in the opposite direction of the way you were turning it and you might be able to get it to come out. Then you can start drilling progressively bigger holes in the stud until you get to the final diameter of the stud, and a helicoil insert will put threads back in there so you can rebolt the part down. Broken studs are always tough, but patience and some tapping and drilling will generally get them out. I've also had luck welding a nut to the stud, laying a bead down in the inside of the nut and concentrating the weld on the stud. Then let it cool, the heat will generally aid in releasing the broken off part. Don
Yep, the extractor is still in there. is there any way to drill through the extractor? it is below the head surface, and is unable to be hit with a chisel/punch. Has anyone had any luck blowing these out without thread damage???
I have had a good deal of success using a left handed drill bit. Usually the bit will twist the broken bolt out before it drills all the way through it.
The extractors are hardened steel and tougher to drill than the original stud, but maybe pick up something like a cobalt drill bit and see if that will do it. They also make left handed drill bits especially for this purpose, and as you drill them counter clockwise the bit bites into the stud and will sometimes twist it out. Great minds think alike ! ^^^^ Don
Weld a NUT through the hole onto the bolt and fill it up with mig weld. Never had that fail me. I couldnt even tell you were my extractors are any more.
x3 on the left handed bits...used one to remove a broken thermostat bolt just like you are describing last year.
Broken extractor = big problem as no normal drill bit will touch same. The torch is the way I would go as it will blow out the extractor allowing you to drill out the remaining bolt. You may need to do some sort of thread repair insert to finish the job. If the head was off I would just set it up on my BP mill and remove bolt and extractor with a carbide endmill.
Take a small chisel and BF hammer and knock the hell out of it. Wear safety gl***es and gloves. Once you get the extractor out drill what's left out with a left handed bit as said before.
They do make drill bits that are hard enough to drill through an extractor. Swing by a machine shop and they will more than likley tell you where to get one. A guy that used to work at the shop I work for had a few. I cant remember the name of the company that they came from. I remember that they were expensive. And yes, the best way to remove a broken bolt is the reverse drill bit. I love those things. Just my 2 cents Good luck
As funny as it is, about 10 years ago I was at a Goodguys show and one of those guys were selling those "magical drill bits" that you see them drilling though hardened files all day. Well, economy was good, extra money to spend/waste, so I bought a set. I only use them in cases like this, but those damn things work.
I would take a torch and heat up the bolt then weld a washer to it then weld a nut to the washer then let it cool all the way down then try to remove it if it brakes off the do it again I have had to do it sometimes 5 or 6 times.
UPDATE: well I have found sucess. After welding washer and bolt combo to the recessed bolt in the head, seven times to be exact, the bolt finally started to ease its way out. I will never use easy outs/extractors again. I had little luck with the reversed drill bit, as it was difficult to apply significant pressure to the drill. Glad I bought them though. The welding will be first next time. Thanks for all the input!!! Problem solved!
A carbide drill will go through it , but that's not something you want to use in a hand drill they are brittle, the welding a nut on top trick works really well that's what I would do, it may take a couple tries but it works 95% of the time for me
Not having a welder, when I broke an EZ-out in a manifold stud on my Edsel, I ground it away with a pneumatic die grinder and a tiny stone. I went through a couple little stones, but I got enough ground away that a chisel would knock it loose. When the broken EZ-out was removed, I just ground out all the stud by hand until all that was left was threads in threads. I picked those out with a bent pick and chased the hole with a tap. Good as new and only took me maybe three hours
Surprised nobody mentioned a small double cut carbide ball burr in your die pneumatic grinder. Cannot remember how many broken bolts, studs, taps, extractors, and gremlins I have removed that way.
A friend uses liquid nitrogen to "shrink" stuck bolts, pistons, etc. I've watched him free up pistons that were rusted solid to cylinders. Weird science stuff!
Glad you got it done. The welding method is always my first resort for those bolts that have twisted off due to seized threads. If it's a situation where a bolt has broken for some other reason and threads aren't seized I'll usually start with the left-hand drill bits. Why do they even call them EZ-Outs? All they have ever taken out for me is money from my pocket.
I stopped using EZ outs. They snap as soon as you place any mediocre torque on them. They ****! IMHO, any stud loose enough to get out with an EZ out (torque < what it takes to snap the extractor) would come out easily with a left hand drill bit, etc.
Don't blame the extractor. It's the guy who puts too much torque on them. If the bolt is rusted in so tight that it twists off when you try to remove it, an extractor that's smaller than the bolt isn't going to turn it. Extractors are for bolts that break off because of sideways forces (shear). If you are foolish enough to break one off, it is hard because it is heat treated. You can soften it up by using a small tip on an acetylene torch, heat the extractor to a cherry red color and slowly move the torch away to let it cool slowly. The process is called annealing and it works on broken drill bits too. If a bolt doesn't want to come out, you need to know how much torque you can apply before it breaks. Alternate between heat and penetrating oil to loosen the bolt.
lots of great ideas and i have used most of them. can't wait to twist off bolt then drill it out and then bust off ez-out trying to remove it just so i can anneal the ez-out then see if it drills out! cool idea!
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