Dang allen bolts!!!

[MadKaw]

neeed help bad. have a stupid allen bolt thats rounded out. tried everything I can think of and it wont budge. even got a pipe wrench on it ...and nothing.

need help Now!!!!!

[The Flyin Hawaiian]

This has worked for me a bunch of times. Find a torx socket that will fit snugly into the rounded out allen, the tighter the better. If you have to drive it in, that would be best. Ive had alot of luck removing stripped allens this way.

[MadKaw]

TRIED that with a 4 pound sledge...spun out

[The Flyin Hawaiian]

Which allen are you trying to remove?

[MadKaw]

brake caliper mounting bolt. one came out like butter, the other oner hates me.

[maddoggy]

try heating it up with a propane torch, the small torch will let you concentrate the flame on the bolt so you won't melt something else. then when it is hot touch some quality wax to the thread end of the bolt. the heat sucks the wax into the threads and acts as a lubricant on the threads. if you do it right you can use the torx aproach with success.

[MadKaw]

I'll sure try it. thanx!
like candle wax?
or car wax?

[maddoggy]

try a good quality candle wax. i've used this method with success many times. hope it works for you.

[c-152]

I tried the candle wax method with my allen bolt (Same deal - brake caliper bolt) and had not luck.  I took the caliper to the shop to see if the could put a helicoil in it.  As I don't have the tools for that yet and they were only going to charge me 20 bucks for it.  The ended up saying they didn't want to do it and were trying to get me to buy a new caliper.  I took it home drilled it out and ran new thread in.  I then bought a peace of thread rod and ground it down were needed and cut a slot in it.  It looks bad but so far has held and the brake action works fine.  I would not recomend doing this unless it is a last resort but it has worked for me.  I am currently looking for a cheap rear caliper to fix it right, but the bolt that I made has help up very well.

[alan]

Don't forget heat! In most all applications you will have dissimilar metals with different expansion coefficients. I often use a heat gun like some of the paint strippers. I soak the bolt with liquid wrench overnight, and then apply heat before I attempt removing it.

Remember if was seized and you finally got it out, you need anti seize compound when you replace it with a new bolt.

One more tip, I replace many problem bolts with Stainless Steel ones. This seems to also help the next time you have to remove one.

Finally if you can't get it out "drill it out". If you have a really good eye and a nice slow drill and can drill one step at a time to the clearance drill size for the tap of the thread. Many times as your drilling the heat from the drilling will remove the old thread as you are drilling. As you are increasing the drill size you can sometimes use an easy out to remove the thread, however they tend to expand the hole which makes for a sloppy fit and reduced holding capacity. You can always go to a Heli coil as a last resort or weld it up an re drill it!

Just my 2 cents! 

[KXcam22]

Good one Alan. That says it all.  As my rule of thumb, I always put anti sieze on bolts that go into aluminum and blue loctite on bolts that go into steel. Exceptions are antiseize on the brass tank/shroud inserts and the rubber exhaust mount threads. Has served me well. With the caliper being aluminum it will expand more than the bolt so some intense heat should work.  If you ever go to a brake/exhaust shop they heat almost every bolt to cherry red before they even attempt to remove them. Works. Cam.

[demographic]

Don't forget heat! In most all applications you will have dissimilar metals with different expansion coefficients. I often use a heat gun like some of the paint strippers. I soak the bolt with liquid wrench overnight, and then apply heat before I attempt removing it.

Remember if was seized and you finally got it out, you need anti seize compound when you replace it with a new bolt.

One more tip, I replace many problem bolts with Stainless Steel ones. This seems to also help the next time you have to remove one.

Finally if you can't get it out "drill it out". If you have a really good eye and a nice slow drill and can drill one step at a time to the clearance drill size for the tap of the thread. Many times as your drilling the heat from the drilling will remove the old thread as you are drilling. As you are increasing the drill size you can sometimes use an easy out to remove the thread, however they tend to expand the hole which makes for a sloppy fit and reduced holding capacity. You can always go to a Heli coil as a last resort or weld it up an re drill it!

Just my 2 cents! 

Just one point, its not advisable to replace highly stressed high tensile steel bolts (like caliper bolts) with stainless as it has a lot lower tensile strength than the OE bolts.

Other ones are fine and i swap them over quite a lot.

[MadKaw]

well, tried the square/drill a little/hammer it in/ back it out whith a wrench type of bolt extractor, it broke off in the bolt hole that I drilled. nothing I had was drilling thru that piece of extractor, as it was too hard( not hard enough for the bolt to come out though) he he he/. so anyeway, after becoming way too pissed to be coherent, I hit it with the map gas for a good minute. put the pipe wrench on it, had the wife hold the forks still and pulled til my eyes crossed. and CRACK it popped loose like it was concreted in place. did a little happy dance after that crap...

well add that one to your last resorts....and don't forget the happy dance!

[alan]

Yep, good work! I hate screw extractors because the are way to hard and brake leaving you a bigger problem than you started with!

[kx666]

well, tried the square/drill a little/hammer it in/ back it out whith a wrench type of bolt extractor, it broke off in the bolt hole that I drilled. nothing I had was drilling thru that piece of extractor, as it was too hard( not hard enough for the bolt to come out though) he he he/. so anyeway, after becoming way too pissed to be coherent, I hit it with the map gas for a good minute. put the pipe wrench on it, had the wife hold the forks still and pulled til my eyes crossed. and CRACK it popped loose like it was concreted in place. did a little happy dance after that crap...

well add that one to your last resorts....and don't forget the happy dance!

yah, i bought a cheep extracter set from sears once...i ended up having to use a snap-on left-hand drill bit from the guy across the shop from me to get it.