You need to drill out more before any Easy-out can apply the torque needed to get the broken bolt out.
Another problem is that a hand-held drill motor is never straight enough to get a straight hole plus it tends to wander off.
I would remove the clutch.
Then, I would get a small, cheap drill stand and, with some shimming bolt it to the flywheel. That would get me a way to drill straight axial into the hole without the drill-bit wandering off.
A short drill-bit would be best for control.
Once the core diameter is drilled, I would apply some heat to weaken the remaining bolt.
If you drill the correct core-size for M8, the remaining metal comes out almost like a coil spring when you pull on it with long-nose pliers.
It means some extra work but has a good chance of success.

get a decent quality drill bit set. high speed steel. not from sears. use a short style extractor. the long ones flex more and can expand the stud more as as tension is applied, which makes it harder to get out of course.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1212766748.jpg

Yup, that's the screw extractor I like to use. The set of eight or ten can be had from the Snap-On guy for less than you might think. And again, I like to use reverse drill bits. They often remove the stud during the drilling process.

subscribing

broken stud
 

Matt,
Looks like I made you alot of work... Man, I'm sorry about that.:( After reading the posts, try couple of the things they said to do, get PB blaster pent oil, nothing else is as good I've ever seen, and a propane torch. Get the area around the hole hot, then use the PB to "cool" it off. Here's why. If that stud had been put in with loctite, which is possible, you may never get it out w/o heat. The heat will break the loctite loose, then the PB can get in to work. Use ventilation, it will stink!!! Let it soak overnight. In the mean time use a small strong pic, like a dentists to see if you can get the drill bit out. If you can't using the pic method, try the slot grinding method, and maby try several times the heating method to make shure it really works in there with the PB. If you can get the bit out, go to the method of drilling holes in steps, and drill the hole all the way to the end of the stud, not just part way. Get that hole as large as posible w/o messing up the threads if you can, before you try the easy out. If all else fails, drill it out and call me, I can get timesert kits, I'll just give you a kit, its a permanent repair. Let me know how you fair, Craig

If you end up trying to drill out the center of that broken stud I strongly recommend using "left hand" or reverse rotation drill bits. Sometimes the heat and pressure from drilling out the stud using one of these bits will actually free the broken stud and unscrew it during the drilling process.

Also, I really don't like those craftsman sets. If one of those break you will need carbide tooling or edm to cut through one of those.

I use the snap-on style that was pictured above.

Good luck and if you can't find the left handed bits, let me know.

Adam

OOPS! I just said what superman said! I probably could have gotten away with a +1

Don't sweat it, Craig. I'm trying to follow the wise advice given here and it is starting to pay off. I'm not there yet, but I have made some serious progress.

First stop tonight was Sears to return that sad little kit (which, to their credit, they refunded my money with no questions asked). I didn't see much else there that looked promising, so I popped in to our local Harbor Freight retail outlet in Mishawaka, IN. I decided to take a gamble on a set of cheap left-handed high-speed drill bits fresh off the boat from China.

Oh, I was able to remove the broken drill bit tip in about 10 seconds with a pair of my wife's eyebrow tweezers :p. After that, I was clear to start the drilling again with my $6.99 drill bits. Guess what - - they work great!! The size increments are perfect, the bits are strong, and I was able to work my way up to this:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1212808924.jpg

I feel that this may be as far as I dare to go without endangering the existing threads. Before I go to bed, I'll hit it with Liquid Wrench once more and tomorrow I'll go out to look for some of those short-style extractors like the one in JW's pic.

Stay tuned!!

congrats you have a good start, recommend heat to break down any locktight that may be there and soak with penetrating fluid. Take your time with screw extractors if they break they are a b--tch to get out!

If it doesn't come out easily now I would guess it has Loctite on it. Heat might be required.

Matt,
You are doing really well!!! I would go another couple of sizes, and HEAT it like I
mentioned earlier, when you heat something like that , the aluminum will expand more and faster than the stud thats left and help break loose the grip on the threads, very important!!! A machinist taught me this trick I forgot to mention. He would heat them up like I mentioned, then use a candle, the wax would crawl in thru the threads and help loosten it every time. Also, the bigger the hole, the easier it will be to loosen it up. You can go quite a bit more. I've been looking for a set of left handers, at that price I'll try them. It does pay to take your time, when I started it, was in such a hurry, well, you saw the results... Keep in touch, Craig

One more drilling technique... When drilling, use a sharp bit (no duh) and keep the bit oiled as you drill. Go up in small stages (it's been said before in this thread)

HTH.

John.

Well, as "Basher" said in Ocean's Eleven:

"We're in Barney......Rubble............TROUBLE!!!"

I think this pic will sum it up:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1212890663.jpg

I did as you guys suggested and used heat before attempting an extraction. I did 2 cycles of heat: each for about 5 minutes, then let it cool down while hitting it with penetrating oil. I couldn't find any of the short extractors, so I bought some more of the longer ones along with a tap wrench. I should have stopped when the tap wrench broke, but I thought I just needed a little more torque on it, so I tried a 10-inch crescent wrench.

**SNAP**

Off broke the extractor as you can see above. Being a Noobile to this sort of thing, I guess I didn't realize how brittle those long extractors would be. Also, I did not know how long to apply heat to the bolt - or how many cycles of heat to use. Any further guidance therein would be appreciated.

So......how deep of ***** am I in now? I'm feeling a bit defeated at the moment, so I'm gonna go watch HBO Boxing and try to clear my mind.

Thanks everyone :(

broken bolt
 

Matt

Been there done that, now let's see how we can get you out of that bind.
If you have a Dremmle tool, try to cut a slot dead center. wide enough to get a screw driver into it. make sure you only try to remove the easy out first. Don't forget you have to turn it clock wise to remove the easy out.
After that, I would drill the bolt another 1 ore two sizes and than try again with a shorter easy out.

good luck

Now is the time for a die grinder and the the very best bits you can find I got mine from eastwood and use a small cone bit to start in the middle of the broken extractor and work your way out if you go into the threads by accident then a timesert is needed. Or load her up and take it to a machinist but my experience with that is once you are that far the machinists where I live just laughed and said good luck they didn't have the time it would take to grind it out.

+1 to that also but be careful that is a big extractor so the slot is a possiblity. remember these things are very brittle so if you tap to dislodge then tap lightly that is all it should take. I didn't have this option the last time I did this wish I did.

how about welding a nut to what's left. never done it myself but worth a try? welding would also take away the brittleness, make it a bit tougher.

Oh crap!
Still it should come out, I would try the advice above.
Keep at it, take lots of mental health breaks!!

I used to repair marine impeller housings a few years back. It was common for the stainless bolts to beak off into the aluminum impeller housings. Sometimes the bolt would break off a few millimeters deep inside the threaded hole.

I used to get them out by tig welding onto the bolt and slowly build up the material so I could grab the bolt with a pair of vice grips.

The heat from the welding process would also help free the broken bolt. You might not be at that stage yet. I believe there is still plenty of hope.

First thing I would do is get some brake clean and clean the area you on working on. Clean and organize your tools you are going to attack this problem with. (greasy slippery tools are a pain to work with) I like to lay my tools on an old towel and try an maintain them in some sort of organized fashion.

I would get some high quality American made cold chisels, drill bits, some sharp picks, and compressed air if you have it. You'll probably need a bench grinder to sharpen your chisels and bits. (This is a good time to learn how to do this.)

Now that the extractor has broken inside your hole there are a couple of options.

1. Remove the extractor (this will depend of how deep you think it is or how much torque you applied before it broke off.

You can try and rotate the extractor by using the right angle tip on the edge of a cold chisel to rotate the extractor in the clockwise direction. Spray the area with your favorite penetrating oil and then blast it with compressed air, repeating for a few times. Then wipe the surface clean with a rag dampened with a shot of brake clean. You can even use the chisel to ever so slightly "push" the bolt away from the extractor. Then spray your penetrating oil in. Just remember to clean the very surface you are working with to help prevent the chisel from slipping.

Remember, don't get to excited with the chisel. You want precise, controlled strikes to transfer its energy properly.

The most important thing is to remain patient, clean and organized. The minute you start feeling frustrated, or your hands are getting dirty; stop, re-group, clean up, and start over. Trust me, this is the most important thing!

You can also try leaving the extractor in and using the chisel to rotate the broken bolt. The hardened extractor with provide some extra strength to the bolt as you try and chisel it out. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the extractor may have actually made the bolt tighter as the spiral flutes on the extractor tend to expand the bolt outwards as they are screwed in causing the bolt to stick even tighter.

This is probably what happened in your case.

Personally I would try and remove the extractor first.

Another option is to drill a few small holes along side of the extractor in an attempt to gain access for your penetrating oil and a few picks. Sometimes you can work the extractor loose by using a pick along with the compressed air/ oil method I explained above to work the extractor loose.

You can certainly try cutting a slot and using a screw driver.

Choosing the best method is going to be up to you as you will obviously know more about that extractor and the force it's in there with.

Feel free to pm me as I have done this probably thousands of time while I worked in the marine industry. I'd be more than happy to help walk you through this.

Furthermore, if all else fails I'm sure someone out there could tig it out for you.

-Adam


P.S I try and stay away from the cheap harbor freight and made in China tools all together. Quality tools give quality results.

Gang,

You guys have given me lots of great options, some of which I would never have thought of on my own.

Update: My Dremel is getting a workout. I couldn't cut a slot in the extractor due to poor angles, so I have begun to grind out the broken extractor. I've gone through 3 cone shaped Dremel grinding stones and it has yielded the following:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1212948597.jpg

It looks like I'm nearing the leading edge of the extractor. Should I just get some more grinding stones and keep pushing forward? I'm getting a little concerned about peripheral damage to the metal at the edge of the hole. A few "spin outs" have led to knicks and gouges in the surrounding area.

I have used a dremel tool to grind out the easy out completely.
Just keep going and nocarrier has given you great advice.
Don't worry about the damage already done, just try to reduce further damage to the best of your ability. Flat file the area after you are done to knock down the high spots, then use a clean up tap and or a bottoming tap to clean up the threads.
Mind the changes in colour of the metals as you wear through them with the dremel.
Can you find one of the flukes of the easy out that you can get the best strike at with a centre punch and relieve the area around it to get a better "punch at it. (clockwise)
Patience, lots of mental health breaks, not too many beer.