[Cloud9...68]

I can hear the groans of empathy for this one. I'm under no delusions that there's an easy way to do this, but I'm wondering if any of the contingent of bleeding-knuckle amateur (or professional) mechanics out there have any tips, techniques, or preferred tools for extracting a stripped cheesehead bolt. I've managed to strip two of the 24 said bolts that hold the axle shafts to the transaxle and rear hubs. Since the bolts are round on the outside, there's nothing to grab onto (tried the vice grip technique - no dice), and there isn't enough space in there to take an angle grinder to the stuck bolts to create some flat surfaces for a wrench to grab onto. So, it looks like I'll have to use some type of drill-mounted extractor bit to go at it from the inside, where the star pattern is located. Any suggestions? Thanks!

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[Monstrous4Banger]

Dremel the head off, or use an easy out. Only ways Ive done it. The triple square bolts can be a pain.

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[Cloud9...68]

What's the benefit of dremeling the head off, seeing as it's fully intact (other than the star pattern inside the head of the bolt being too mangled to grip with the driver)? In all the years I've worked on cars, I've never used an easy-out, believe it or not, and from the quick bit of research I've done, it sounds like while they can be useful tools, there is some risk involved, the main one being the possibility of breaking the easy-out inside the bolt. Just gotta be real careful (and lucky), I guess...

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[Monstrous4Banger]

Yep, easy out is no guarantee of anything, some times they work. If you grind off the head, or cut if off with an abrasive wheel, youll be able detach what you need to, and be left with the threaded post. Sometimes, you can grip on that and get the bolt/post off. Or find a nut that fits the threads, weld it on, and use a ratchet. None of your options will be pretty. Hopefully someone else has a different way, cause Id like to know.

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[flash]

if you have access to a welder, welding a nut onto the head would probably work



otherwise, you can try to drive it out by using a chisel



an impact gun with a socket driven onto it might too - expect to lose the tool

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[tamathumper]

Wow, I remember discussing this years ago, (and cursing like a sailor under the back of my car as it happened to me) and there's no great way to do it. If you can't get the vise grips to work, the welded nut method is very popular in the Farmall tractor community, or if it's possible to hacksaw a slot in it, you might be able to get it out with a short bar, think of a regular-head screw, but the slot is wider and deeper, and you use a narrow steel bar's edge or a piece of angle iron ground down slightly, and get a lot more torque that way.



I'd recommend a healthy spray of PBBlaster and let it sit overnight first.

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[Ryan]

There are a couple ways to use the Vise-Grips. One is to clamp them on the head at a right angle. The other is to clamp them on coming straight off the head and take another wrench and use the Vise-Grips as the fastener coming off them at a right angle. I have had luck with this as you can really get a good lock going at the fastener straight on.



I have grips up to 14" for those occasions when you need to really grab something.

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[Cloud9...68]

Great responses, as always. This is definitely a resourceful bunch.



The thing that makes these particular bolts challenging is that they are on the axle half shaft that attaches to the right hub, and there are only a couple of milimeters between the edge of the bolt head and the rubber axle boot. So there's no room to put any kind of socket or box wrench around the outside of the bolt (which is why they had to use an inside-grabbing bolt like a cheesehead). It also makes it impossible to get a grinder, or even a hasksaw, to the bolt head, unfortunately.



I love the idea of welding a nut to the bolt head, but unfortunately I don't have a welder, nor do I know how to weld. And I'm sure JB Weld wouldn't stand a chance of keeping a nut in place while trying to turn the bolt off. The proximity of the bolts to the rubber axle boot also concerns me, but I suppose it could be shielded from the welder (maybe). I have drenched the bolts in PB Blaster. I only tried the Vise-Grips at a right angle; I'll give the straight-on approach a try, although I'm afraid the roundness of the bolt will make it very tough for any set of Vise-Grips to get much of a hold.



The next thing I think I'll try is removing everything that might be in the way, such as the brake caliber, getting a good chisel, and seeing if I can tangentially pound enough of a bite out of the bold head to be able to loosen it. This seems like the safest approach. I tried it last night with a center punch, but I;m sure a chisel would be a better tool.



If nothing works, I'm wondering if I should go ahead and drop the transaxle and the right banana arm, and see if by getting everything out in the open that doesn't geve me enough additional leverage to get these things off as opposed to trying to do it from underneath the car. The left hafl-shaft bolts all came loose without any problems. I have to remove the transaxle to replace the input shaft seal anyway (which is one of the reason I'm removing the axles), and I'm planning to replace the rubber bushings in the banana arm with spherical ones, so the arm needs to come off anyway. Does this make sense? Thanks.

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[JWahlsten]

I've drilled them out on my cars in the past. Same thing with the flywheel bolts... This was on the 944 and 951, but they're pretty much the same thing. Once you drill the head off the torque on the fastener is relieved. Same idea as using the Dremel.



Do you have a torch to heat it? Sometimes that works too.

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[banditsc]

Just clean off any grease or PB Blaster from the head of the bolt and squeeze harder on the vice grips and it will grip the bolt.

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[Cloud9...68]

Regarding the drilling-of-the-bolt-head approach: How large of a bit do you use? The bolt head is almost exactly 1/2" in diameter. Should I use a bit large enough to drill off the entire head? If so, I would imagine you'd do it with incrementally increasing drill bit sizes. Or is a smaller bit sufficient to get the job of relieving the torque sufficient? I think it's an awfully hard bolt, so drilling it is going to require a very hard bit, I would imagine. I have a titanium bit, but it's definitely smaller than 1/2".



I don't have a torch, but I would be nervous about using one so close to the rubber CV joint boot.



Banditsc,



OK, I'll try your head-on-Vice-Grip approach before I start pounding with the chisel or drilling the bolt head, as this would be a much easier solution. I'm still skeptical that a Vice-Grip can get a sufficient grip on such a round bolt head in such tight quarters, but I'm more than willing to give it a try.



I'll let everybody know how it "comes out" (I can only hope...). Thanks.

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[tamathumper]

If possible, use a drill bit that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the *shaft* of the bolt, then drill down through the (now stripped) cheesehead, which should help to guide the drill bit. Once through most of the head you should find it will snap off, but leave a nicely centered dimple on the shaft if you need to continue drilling.

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[DaveN]

First thing I would do is heat it if I could. Then get at it with a nice sharp hardened chisel and carefully start drifting into the head to make a purchase then tap-tap-tap until it starts to rotate. It almost always works <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/rolleyes.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> If you Dremel the head off you won't have a chance to try this.

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[gbarrier]

Sometimes a left handed drill bit works. It is made to turn counter clockwise instead of clockwise. Autozone sells three or four in a pack. Drills are terrible quality but all you want them to do is grab fast to the bolt and turn it out. If it doesn't grab and twist it out then it will drill the head off, relieve the tension and you can usually easily remove it with vice grips.

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[tamathumper]

If you can get a flat spot on it, maybe this newfangled gizmo will work... http://www.amazon.com/Gator-Grip-ETC-200...B000065CJ8

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[Cloud9...68]

Woo-hoo! Got both of the stripped bolts off. So, which method did the trick? It was the tangential chisel method. I couldn't find any way to get a good enough grip on the smooth, round bolt head with the Vice-Grips, no matter which angle I went at it from, but the chisel method worked great. Only took a few minutes per bolt (about one thousandth of a percent of the time it took me to get the seal out of the taower casting of the steering rack ) . And smacking the outside of the bolt head silly with the chisel must have caused the star pattern to distort a bit, because after I got the bolt to rotate a bit with the chisel, I was able to get the triple-square driver to seat into the bolt (had to pound it into place with a hammer, which didn't work at all before I started chiseling), and then was able to turn it the rest of the way with the breaker bar.



Thanks again for all the tips!

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[flash]

yup - that's why i suggested that one - usually works if you can get a good shot at it

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[kwikt]

I have hammered a Torx head socket in the stipped hole for removal numerous timmes before. Use a slitely larger bit,Put it on a extension,hold it sguare, USE A 2LB. hammer to drive the Torx head socket in, then use a hammer impact driver to remove. This method worked for me on both motorcycles and cars.

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[Cloud9...68]

Flash,



Yes, the tangential hammer & chisel method seemed to be the consensus preferred method in the research I did on stripped bolt removal. Thanks for the suggestion.



Kwikt,



That method sounds very good, too. Unfortunately, I don't have a cheesehead driver of the right size that would fit in the impact hammer that I have. I have had very good luck the impact hammer on other stuck bolts, though - very useful tool.

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[DaveN]

Glad my favourite method worked for you. I'm even happy I have an expensive name for the process as well " tangential hammer & chisel method" <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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