See full version: 10 Tricks to remove that Stuck, Seized, or Stripped Bolt/Nut
7. Air Hammer/Chisel – This combines a few of the methods already mentioned. Its biggest advantage is that it can be used when the bolt head is stripped. This makes it helpful when you’re trying to figure out how to remove stripped lug nuts and door bolts. You basically chisel/hammer it so that the bolt loosens. I have had it work with moderate success, but it needs to be on a bolt/nut that is an open area. [links]
Below are my top 10 ways to deal with getting these suckers extracted without wrecking the precious part they are in. This include tips on how to remove a rounded bolt or a bolt with a stripped head in addition to those that are seemingly stuck in place for all eternity.
One of the biggest frustrations when disassembling a vehicle for restoration, or even repair, is the dreaded seized or stripped bolt. Stuck hardware occurs when a bolt, nut or screw gets corrosion between the threads and they won’t budge. Many times, this leads to breaking the bolt off and having to drill and re-tap the hold or trying to remove it with a bolt extractor. I won’t even mention what happens when the drill, tap or extractor breaks off in the same hole!!
8. Bolt or Screw Extractor – There are many styles/gimmicks. Some work, but many do not. They use hardened bits that grab into the inside of the bolt or nut to remove it. Many require you to drill a small hole in the bolt, then thread these bits in. Whatever you do, do not break the extractor off inside the hole, or you are in for a long, horrible process. Normal drill bits will not touch these, so you will need specialty drill bits to drill through them. If the stud is still present you can use a Threaded Stud Remover to extract a stud without damaging the threads or hardware. [links]
6. Weld’er Up! – This is one method for how to remove a stripped bolt that can be used if the nut or bolt head is so severely stripped you can’t turn it with locking jaw pliers. It is also useful if the head is broken off the bolt. You can simply take a washer and a bolt of a slightly larger size and tack weld it to the bolt body. Once you have it tack welded, I like to fill the nut with weld and run a bead around the base of where it meets the bolt body. This allows you to put a socket on the bolt again as well as putting heat into the bolt that will allow it to expand and contract, breaking some of the corrosion. I prefer to use a MIG Welder to do this job as it allows for a little more control than with a stick welder. [links]
9. Pipe Wrench – This is a pretty basic way to tackle a stripped bolt, and most everyone has a pipe wrench kicking around their shop. Tighten the pipe wrench down on the bolt/nut and as you crank on the bolt with the pipe wrench, it actually grabs harder onto the bolt head. Just watch you knuckles if it slips off!
Due to its ability to completely trash an engine, the killer dowel pin tops our list of Cummins shortcomings. On the assembly line, a tiny steel dowel pin was pressed into the block of ’89 to ’02 mills in order to locate the engine’s timing gear housing. Over time and thanks to a combination of vibration, heat cycles and age, it can work its way out of the block. Once it falls out, the tiny dowel pin usually makes contact with the cam gear first and can then be drawn into both the injection pump and crank gears, effectively making it a 10-cent wrecking ball. Remember, if it takes out the cam gear, the pistons will contact the valves, potentially leading to a trashed head and block.
While this isn’t necessarily a fatal flaw, it is disappointing for Cummins owners that transitioned from older, mechanical engines into newer common-rail models (’03-present). Instead of having to worry about an injector rebuild every once in a blue moon (and on the cheap), many owners are shelling out $2,000 to $3,000 every 140,000 miles for new injectors.
See why it’s called the “killer dowel pin?” Of course, if you’re lucky the dowel pin avoids the cam, crank and injection pump gears altogether and makes it safely down into the oil pan. But that’s rare. A third possible outcome pits the dowel pin against the cam gear directly beneath it. The cam gear will force the (steel) dowel pin into the timing gear housing, which is made of aluminum, thereby cracking or blowing a chunk out of the housing and spewing oil all over the ground. The worst part about the killer dowel pin is that you never know when it will strike. And if you bought your ’89 to ’02 Dodge Ram used, there is no concrete way to know if the dowel pin has been addressed.
For the most part, the new motor looked okay, except for one thing: there was a broken motor mount bolt in the side of the engine block. My arch nemesis, Tavarish, already wrote a story on how to remove broken bolts . So, just follow his advice and Bob’s my uncle, right?
After about nine million years of Dremel-ing, my friend said he felt the dremel break through something. We took the bit out, and inspected. Here’s what we saw:
You see, ideally, Freddy’s EZ-Out method would result in something resembling the picture above: the bolt shank spins right out and I’m home free. In fact, I’ve had great success on these same engine mount bolts on another engine. But because this is a Michigan Jeep and everything is coated in rust , and because I am the most impatient wrencher in the history of earth, it didn’t go smoothly at all. [links]
Measurement of piston protrusion
By clicking on “OK” you confirm that you have taken note of the information on cookies, the data protection declaration and the publication details. You can also change your cookie settings for this website at any time.
Motorservice Group uses cookies saved to your device in order to optimize and continuously improve its websites, as well as for statistical purposes. Further information on our use of cookies can be found here, together with our publication details and data protection notice.
MS Motorservice International GmbH
Wilhelm-Maybach-Straße 14-18
74196 Neuenstadt
Germany [links]