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Question about broken bolt extraction

RedDevilGTO

RedDevilGTO

NAXJA Forum User
Location
San Diego
Soooo.... I found the time to fix the leaking front diff (RVT gasket cracked). And when I put the cover back on one of the bolts snapped.

Called the local car shop and they estimated it would be about $100 to fix.

I was thinking for that money I could buy a bolt extractor kit (amazon has a good deal on irwin stuff) and try it myself. Haven't done it before, but the process looks simple enough. Punch, center-drill, reverse-bit drill (without touching the receiving threads) and extract.

Two questions
1) I know it'll take patience and a steady hand. But how hard is it really?
2) Does anyone have an opinion on the quality of the Irwin kits, and would it be worth getting the 35-piece set over the 10-piece? I want to get something good that wont snap off in the already snapped bolt.

Maybe I'll just try it anyways for fun. If I screw up big time, it gives me a excuse to get a tap and die set! haha.
 
I've done a dif cover bolt like this. it really isn't hard. just try and drill it straight.

I bought a cheap set from a local auto-parts store and it worked fine.
 
If it is broken off flush, you may try welding a nut to the broken bolt, let cool and unscrew it. You may have to try this several times, just try to get some good penetration on the bolt.
 
Broken bolts can come out easy or hard. Be prepared to drill all the way to the threads and pick out the pieces. Chase the threads with a tap and you're done. A torch and wax does wonders also.
 
diff cover bolts are usually grade 5 it really shouldn't be that bad.
 
Depending where the bolt broke off you could always try taking a sharp punch or something similar and lightly tap the bolt in a counter clockwise direction on the outer edges. Basically you angle the punch so that when you "lightly" tap the punch it spins/shocks the bolt loose.
if the bolt broke while torquing, this method should work. If bolt broke before the head seated then drilling will be the fix.
 
Thanks for the input guys! I'll be giving it a try (hopefully tomorrow morning).

crash02 - That might work. I think there is a nice lip that i could get a punch positioned on.

"diff cover bolts are usually grade 5 it really shouldn't be that bad." The bolt that broke was a 3 grade, so it's even softer right? That's my suspension as to why it broke in the first place. There were a couple g3 mixed in with the others (all those torqued up without issue). I stopped once the first g3 bolt broke. I'll be getting stronger bolts to replace the g3s.
 
Did the bolt thread in easy, and then snap as you tightened it? If the bolt went in finger tight, then chances are good it should come out fairly easy.

The easy outs that I have look a bit like a spline. Drill a pilot hole, hammer the extractor in, put a wrench on the end, and back the broken bolt out.

Worse case, as John says, drill out most of the bolt, chisel out the remainder, and run a tap through it.

David Bricker / SYR
 
RedDevilGTO said:
The bolt that broke was a 3 grade, so it's even softer right? That's my suspension as to why it broke in the first place. There were a couple g3 mixed in with the others (all those torqued up without issue). I stopped once the first g3 bolt broke. I'll be getting stronger bolts to replace the g3s.
Click to expand...

There really aren't Grade 3 bolts. they are Grade 2, then 5, then 8. The Grade 2 bolts have no markings on the head. Grade 5 have three marks, and Grade 8 have 6 marks. There are other grading methods and indications, but that's the most common.

When you say Grade 3, perhaps that's because there were three marks on the bolt head? If so, it's a Grade 5.

David Bricker / SYR
 
"When you say Grade 3, perhaps that's because there were three marks on the bolt head? If so, it's a Grade 5."

Thanks for clarifying that. That's what it was. So i guess it was just meant to break.
 
Short story long.
Was reinstalling d30 cap bolts, one went in finger tight, and one broke on torque, pulled the other bolt and cap, was able to unthread the broken bolt. Went to the harf
dware stroe, and got a replacement, been fine ever since.

Long story short:
bolt extraction is like a box of chocolates, you never know what youre gonna get
 
Thanks for the offer Grimm. Fortunately I was able to use crash02's method this morning! Guess I'll just have to wait to add to my tool collection till later.
 
Nice to hear you were able to get the bolt out, without having to spend any money. Always a good outcome.

David Bricker / SYR
 
you can get bolt extractors at autozone, napa, home depot, etc., and they work fine, for future reference. you can get the size you need instead of buying the whole kit.
also, sometimes a left handed drill bit works good.
 
Never had any luck with bolt extractors. They might work on easy stuff, but I have broken too many of them off, so I don't even try them anymore. For flush breaks, weld a washer to it, concentrating the heat to the bolt first, then weld a nut to the washer. Kinda tricky on smaller bolts, but was able to get even a broken pinion yoke strap bolt out with this method.
 
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