Removing Broken Bolts

How you remove the bolt has a lot to do with how skillful you are with your hands and how much access you have and how much time you are willing to take to get it right.

The first approach if you have a little of the bolt sticking out is to use a small screwdriver or pick and try to turn the bolt. A little cleaning and some Liquid Wrench can help with this. One the bolt breaks often the tension is off it and it will spin quite freely. I always try this first working the pick around the edge of the bolt to find the lip left when the bolt broke at the thread.

If the threads have stretched or the bolt is bottomed out then the remainder of the bolt will lock into the threads. You are lucky here as there is a little sticking out. The best bet is a pair of vice grips. Get the real thing - the ones that say Vice Grip - they work the others do not. I would first try a needle nose pair and approach the bolt from the side. If this fails then a bigger pair clamped straight on and then twist. If you have enough of the bolt sticking out you can use a dremel to create two flat spots to get a better grip. You can also use the Dremel to create a slot for a screw driver. Tap the end of the screw drive to seat it and to release the threads.

Next if this does not work you can try a very small cold chisel to work around the edges - be careful not to hit the block. Sometimes this will start the bolt moving and you can finish it off with the other methods.

Finally there is drilling. First use a small grinder or the Dremel to grind a flat spot on the bold. This will allow for a more accurate center punch. Center punch the bolt and use a small drill to drill a pilot hole in the bolt. Use a smaller drill first to get the center and be careful not to break the drill in the bolt and create even a bigger problem. Once you have the center pilot hole use the recommended drill size for the Easyout and drill out more of the bolt to fit. Insert the Easyout and remove the bolt. If this works it is a good idea to redress the threads with a bottom tap before putting in a new bolt. I like the Easyouts that look like a reverse thread than the ones than you have to drive in and are square.

If the easy out fails you can re-drill the bolt again - this time with a drill that is just a few thousands smaller than the inside thread of the bolt. The recommended drill size for a tap or just smaller will work fine. This will leave the threads of the bolt in the hole but with no strength to hold them together. With a pick or small cold chisel and maybe a pair of needle nose pliers you can work out the threads of the bolt. Again if this works use a bottom tap to dress the threads.

Finally if all else fails you can use a larger drill to drill out the rest of the threads. There is a kit that can be used to tap out the hole to a larger thread size and use an insert to reduce the hole back to the thread of the bolt. The size the drill and tap will be determined by the kit. When putting in the insert be sure to put it in place with Red Loctite. This way it will not start to turn when you next try to remove the bolt. Only put the Red Loctite on the insert not one the threads of the bolt.

When drilling be careful not to drill too deep. Measure the depth of the other hoes and put a piece of tape on the drill to mark the depth. There is a drill stop made that can be used also but I have not seen any recently.

If all else fails you can use an epoxy to fill the hole completely and then re-drill it and tap in a new thread - this is the worst of all possible solutions. Just be sure to get filler that can take the recommended torque of the thread. Clean the surface real good before using the epoxy.