Broken TCT Bolt - Help!
Often when I am in thos predicament, the mere act of drilling out the broken bolt ends up removing it. The heat from drilling loosens the threads, and the hole allows boot to shrink a bit. The bit rotation is in the direction to unscrew bolt. So drilling further may remove it.
Some things to note. A dull drillbit is going to simply work harden the bolt, making it harder and harder to remove. Make sure you have a good, fresh drillbit.
Your hole is off center. Next time grind it flat, and use a spring punch to more accurately center your drilling effort. And start with a smaller bit and work up.
For this time, get a good, sharp, smaller bit that won't eat the threads in that offset hole. Bit don't go too small. The worst thing that could happen now is you break off a drillbit in that hole. Make your problem 10 times worse. If you have to chew the threads up a little using a thicker bit in order to be sure not break it, thats better than breaking a drillbit in there.
Get Mapp gas torch. Yellow bottle from Home depot. Looks like a propane torch, but its muuuuch hotter. It uses a different nozzle, don't use your propane one.
Fire it up and get a lot of heat into that bolt, then drill the hole. Then while its still hot try hammering in a removal tool.
If there os anything as bad as breaking a drillbit in there, its breaking a hardened ez out bit. I like the idea of the hammering in a hex driver instead. It lets you use a socket wrench with lots of leverage, and less brittle, less likely to snap like an ez out.
Some things to note. A dull drillbit is going to simply work harden the bolt, making it harder and harder to remove. Make sure you have a good, fresh drillbit.
Your hole is off center. Next time grind it flat, and use a spring punch to more accurately center your drilling effort. And start with a smaller bit and work up.
For this time, get a good, sharp, smaller bit that won't eat the threads in that offset hole. Bit don't go too small. The worst thing that could happen now is you break off a drillbit in that hole. Make your problem 10 times worse. If you have to chew the threads up a little using a thicker bit in order to be sure not break it, thats better than breaking a drillbit in there.
Get Mapp gas torch. Yellow bottle from Home depot. Looks like a propane torch, but its muuuuch hotter. It uses a different nozzle, don't use your propane one.
Fire it up and get a lot of heat into that bolt, then drill the hole. Then while its still hot try hammering in a removal tool.
If there os anything as bad as breaking a drillbit in there, its breaking a hardened ez out bit. I like the idea of the hammering in a hex driver instead. It lets you use a socket wrench with lots of leverage, and less brittle, less likely to snap like an ez out.
Reverse or left hand drill bits are very effective bolt extractors, if there is still material left in the bolt I would try that.
Maybe use a fine dremel carbide tip first to try and get your hole a bit more centered.
Maybe use a fine dremel carbide tip first to try and get your hole a bit more centered.
Trending Topics
I had this happen with a PS pump bolt I over-tightened into an engine block once. I thought I was out of luck when I couldn't get a left-hand threaded extractor to budge it, and swearing wasn't getting me anywhere, even going up to Navy level. I sprayed the area liberally with anti-seize and gave up for the night.
The next day I glumly fiddled with the end of the bolt, wondering what to do, and damned if it didn't just spin out in my hand. Such a glorious day, I celebrated by braking another bolt off mounting a radiator fan.
The next day I glumly fiddled with the end of the bolt, wondering what to do, and damned if it didn't just spin out in my hand. Such a glorious day, I celebrated by braking another bolt off mounting a radiator fan.
This happened to one of my TCT bolts as well, due to the V1 kraftwerks supercharger mounting bracket that shares these holes.
Regardless of the drill or extraction bits I tried, I couldn't get a straight enough angle to extract what was left of the bolt. So, I just pulled the head and sent it to a machine shop to have them freshen everything up.
Regardless of the drill or extraction bits I tried, I couldn't get a straight enough angle to extract what was left of the bolt. So, I just pulled the head and sent it to a machine shop to have them freshen everything up.










