So I have a bolt head that is rounded off.. I was thinking of the best way to remove it without a bolt extractor kit. What if I were to get a old socket that fit snuggly on the stripped bolt, carefully put epoxy on the bolt head and socket, put them together, let it dry and cure, then just take the bolt off with a ratchet, throw the old bolt/socket away and put in a new bolt.

 

That may work ,but I recomend getting a striped bolt/nut socket set. Its a great set to have and sears or snap-on has them. You will use them plenty of times.

 

Im having a hard time finding a bolt out for a 17mm bolt, Do I need to buy one of those 80 craftsman kits to get it?

 

If you have a local snap-on dealer the part number is TSFSY17. Thats the number for the 17mm extractor socket. If you buy the set believe me you'll get the money out of them. Those sockets come in really handy in the long run.

 

I'm not dissing Snap-On, but I'd recommend the Craftsman Bolt-Out. They work, and most of us don't have a Snap-On dealer who stops buy our house weekly. Sears even has a set designed for use with impact guns.

These things are worth their weight in gold when you're doing exhaust work on older cars. Here in Ohio, the nuts or heads of the bolts rust until they're between standard sizes. i.e. a 12 mm socket spins on the nut but an 11 would have to be pounded onto it.

Whenever possible, buy the tool you need. You'll have it for the rest of your life.

 

Is it broken off or rounded? If it's just rounded, vise-grips are the way to go. If it's broken though, and there's nothing to grab onto, god help you. Sometime you can use a chissel to notch the top and turn the bolt out far enough for vise grips. Or if the other side is visable, you can get it out there with the vise grips.

You're apoxy trick might work with a 6 point socket, but I doupt it would work with t 12 point.

 

there are tools that could get those out. like this.

I think it would be a wise investment.

http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/lis19250.html

or you could use SAE sockets that's just a bit smaller, hammer it in then turn it.

of course, you can't use that socket anymore, but sockets are cheap.

in this case, I would get the cheapest ones that's not forged or any sort of hardened steel.

I would stay away from the epoxy and all that ugliness. That could drip and permanantly make the bolt not come out.