Broken bolt

All you have to do is drill it out and then tap it.

That's kinda funny (but its not) because on my 68 the EXACT same bolt is broke. I could swear that pic is from my car.

In my experience, an "Easy-Out" like you pictured will indeed do the job; just not the way you think it will.......

See, once you get the screw extractor screwed into the shank of the broken bolt, and you're cranking on it as hard as humanly possible; it will snap off, flush with the offending bolt-shank. Don't worry, they're really designed to do this. Then, when in desperate frustration, you drag the cutting torch out to melt the remains of the "easy-out"; you'll find that it's actually harder and less prone to melting than the metal composition used in the bolt's manufacture. You'll end up with a white-hot-but-still-solid chunk of "easy-out" falling out of the hole; surrounded by molten globs of what used to be the bolt. Then you can more easily drill and tap the hole; as 96BlueStangGT suggests.



At least, that's been my experience.......

96BlueStangGT said:

All you have to do is drill it out and then tap it.

Click to expand...

only way to do it.


with a bolt that big and that corroded, easy outs will almost always break. drill it, tap it, and viola. may seem like more work, but if you break that easy out, it's about 100 times less work in the end.

good luck!

So without all the sarcasm, how do you remove it?

StangDreamin' said:

In my experience, an "Easy-Out" like you pictured will indeed do the job; just not the way you think it will.......

See, once you get the screw extractor screwed into the shank of the broken bolt, and you're cranking on it as hard as humanly possible; it will snap off, flush with the offending bolt-shank. Don't worry, they're really designed to do this. Then, when in desperate frustration, you drag the cutting torch out to melt the remains of the "easy-out"; you'll find that it's actually harder and less prone to melting than the metal composition used in the bolt's manufacture. You'll end up with a white-hot-but-still-solid chunk of "easy-out" falling out of the hole; surrounded by molten globs of what used to be the bolt. Then you can more easily drill and tap the hole; as 96BlueStangGT suggests.



At least, that's been my experience.......

Click to expand...

+1

geostang351 said:

So without all the sarcasm, how do you remove it?

Click to expand...

Definitely drill it and chase the threads with a tap. I took one out of my COupe that way and it was pretty easy

geostang351 said:

So without all the sarcasm, how do you remove it?

Click to expand...

Just drill it out and re-tap it.

That wasn't sarcasm, it was humor - and personal experience. Over the years; I've had quite a few snapped bolts, on the order of at least 12. Used an Esay-Out maybe 8 of those times. Was suscessful exactly 3 times. Every other time, just as I described.

If it's flush with the bottom of the head, there will be the thickness of the bracket still sticking up. I would load up on the penetrating oil on the other bolt, soak it for a week or so. Kroil or PB Blaster. Throw some heat on it during the week with a propane torch, hit the head with a hammer, put more oil on it. During this time, use the oil and heat on teh broken one as well, just don't use the hammer, yet. When you go to take the remaining bolt off, tighten a bit before loosening, it 'should' come out okay.

Now if you do indeed have a bit sticking up, use a hacksaw blade to cut a slot in the bolt and hit it with the propane torch and touch it with a candle, the wax will wick down into the threads, tap the end with a hammer then use a wide screwdriver blade to back the boken piece out.

If you have a welder, you can put a nut on the end of the bolt and weld it to the end. This works better if you have a piece sticking out. When you do this, you then use the wax method and still use the hammer taps and tighten before loosening.