need help to remove a stripped bolt

B

ButchS

Guest
I am working on taking off the starter motor on my 95 Disco and successfully removed the buttom allen head bolt but stripped the upper bolt. It is a PITA thingi(pain in the ...) taking it off. My friends recommend to weld a rod and remove the bolt. Sounds easy to do but how? Looks like it is a 5 hour man hour job. If I have to buy a welding kit, which model and specs will help the most with the least price: arc weld,mig or tig? I was shopping around and found 80 amps stick arc welds for $70.00-$80.00 but am not sure if it is a good investment. For future needs, I want a welding kit to make my own bumper and can work on aluminum too. Any locals in San Diego who can help. I hate getting stuck in my garage especially having 2 fooet of snow in the sierras. :confused:
 

Dan Erickson

Well-known member
May 27, 2005
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Cincinnati, Ohio
I have had success before (not on the starter) with left handed drill bits. As you are drilling and the bit starts to grab, it will spin the bolt out.

Even if it does not come, you have a hole to insert an "easy out" extractor to spin it out that way.

The extractor also has left hand spirals on it.

Just make sure not to go with too big of a bit so you don't eat into the threads in the block.

Hopefully, you have room to get a drill into the area.

Also, if you size the drill bit just right (big enough), you can drill the bolt head right off and at least get the starter out of the way to have a little more working room.

Dan
 

juju6886

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2005
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Clinton Utah
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=6271

I have a similar century welder easy as piss to use and does it all duty cycle be damned mine has a overtemp cutoff switch and it automatically shuts the welder down if it's too hot.
Try an easy out first, though I haven't had a terrible amount of success with them and had to carbide dental burr them out after I snapped them off. If the bolt is rusted in place or just stuck from years of hot and cold try smacking the shit out of the head with a hammer this will loosen the shit on the threads. Works on aircraft!
 

Twilsey

Well-known member
Feb 21, 2006
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Telluride, Colorado
www.myspace.com
The previous suggestions are good ones.

The welding tip is a pretty good plan A. You can try tacking a rod to the bolt, I would suggest placing the correct size allen wrench in the stripped out head and then weld around it. A cheap mig welder may be easier to use, if you are not an experienced welder. You will have a better chance of creating a strong weld with less experience. The best thing about trying the welding approach first is, at worst you can't lay a strong enough weld and you have to resort to extracting the bolt with drill and easy out.

Follow what ericksdf has suggested. Did the bolt strip due to previous damage to the head or is the bolt so frozen in the hole so that you stripped out the head with pure force?

If you feel that the bolt is frozen, soak it with PB Cutter for a hour or so, keep re applying. Then heat the casing with a propane torch, it is not necessary to get it too hot, be carefull of sourounding rubber/gaskets. Then use your left hand drill bit, if it doesn't come out then use the easy out with same heat. JUST DON'T BREAK THE EASY OUT OFF IN THE HOLE. You will double your problem due to the high tensile strength of the easyout, very very hard to drill into a broken off easy out, I can't stress this enough.

If you end up snapping the head off and can't remove with an easy out. Then it is time to drill out the entire remaining bolt. Then rethread to the next size up thread or insert a healicoil.

Good luck, stripped bolts are never easy, don't get discouraged.