Re: ideas for removing stripped bolt

Mikefule said:

*
A crude engineering solution which sometimes works is to get an old
socket which is a little bit too small and hammer it on. *

This works even better if you heat the socket with a torch first. When
it cools it really grabs on.

If it is a nut it can be cut with a small grinder. Tedious but
effective.

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Mikefule said:

*
A crude engineering solution which sometimes works is to get an old
socket which is a little bit too small and hammer it on. *

This works even better if you heat the socket with a torch first. When
it cools it really grabs on.

If it is a nut it can be cut with a small grinder. Tedious but
effective.

--
cyberbellum - Level 1.0 rider!

Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
half empty. Engineers think the glass is too big.
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Cyberbellum's bolt extractor theory will only work if you can drill a
hole in the center of the bolt and you would need a healthy bolt
extractor to make sure it doesn't break. Is it a crank NUT or a crank
BOLT? The bolt extractor won't work with a nut anyway.

Get a six point 14mm socket if you can find one rather than a twelve
point which is more likely. Heat the AXLE slightly with a propane torch
if it is a bolt. Heat the NUT only, if it is a nut. Then loosen.

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harper - Statuesque

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harper said:

*Cyberbellum's bolt extractor theory will only work if you can drill a
hole in the center of the bolt and you would need a healthy bolt
extractor to make sure it doesn't break. Is it a crank NUT or a crank
BOLT? The bolt extractor won't work with a nut anyway.

Get a six point 14mm socket if you can find one rather than a twelve
point which is more likely. Heat the AXLE slightly with a propane
torch if it is a bolt. Heat the NUT only, if it is a nut. Then loosen.
*

Greg, you must be thinking of a screw extractor which I agree won't
work on either. A bolt extractor is a cap with reverse fluted cutters
on the inside that will work on either a nut or a bolt IF it can fit
into the crank. It screws over a rounded nub and grabs on from the
outside. [A screw extractor is a tapered rod with reverse fluted
cutters on the outside. You drill the screw and then fit the extractor
into the hole to grab what's left and unscrew it. If the crank bolt is
really in there the scew extractor will probably just snap off.]

Enthusiastically agree about a six-point socket. They're hard to find
but they really do work better on stubborn parts.

I didn't recommend heating because the crank is still on over the taper.
It would be hard to heat the steel without damaging the aluminum. In
any other setting the heating trick almost always works. Pre-chilling
the parts in a freezer makes it work even bettter.

When all else fails use a die grinder carefully. Grinding flats so that
you can lock a pair of vice grips on is a winning strategy that I've
used twice so far. Very tedious and time consuming, but whenever a job
involves surgically mangling something then vice grips and die grinders
are things of beauty.

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cyberbellum said:

*

Enthusiastically agree about a six-point socket. They're hard to find
but they really do work better on stubborn parts.

*

It's a bit late if the head has already rounded, but a flank drive is
even better than a 6 point.

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Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

Well, it all depends on what you mean by "semantics".
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Mikefule said:

*

It's a bit late if the head has already rounded, but a flank drive is
even better than a 6 point. *

What's a flank drive?

--
cyberbellum - Level 1.0 rider!

Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
half empty. Engineers think the glass is too big.
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