broken bolt removal..with pictures

[glennster]

heres some pics of removing a broken bolt in an aluminum transmission housing. (87 for bronco, its been in there quite a while)

sprayed up the bolt yesterday with deep creep penetrating oil. then cleaned the area up with a wire brush.

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next apply some heat with an oxy-acetylene torch, just enough to get the bolt dull red. let it cool, then re-heat 2 more times. apply candle wax as it cools the last time and let it soak in

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next , place a nut over the broken bolt. this one was sticking out just enough to catch the last thread on the nut.

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next, i mig welded the nut to the broken stud.

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still a little hot

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as it cools, apply a little more candle wax

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when it cools down to just enough to touch it, put the wrench to it and gently wiggle back and forth

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and wha-laa!!!! its miller time!!!

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hope this helps some of you all out!!!!

 

[ditchwitch]

Tell me exactly what the candle wax is supposed to do that would be better than lets say wd-40 or some other rust inhibitor. seems like the viscosity of the wax would be to thick to run down the threads.

 

[Rick Kr]

I havent had a chance to try this method yet. Honestly I hope I dont, but working on older equipment, a broken bolt is never far away.

In the first pic, the bellhousing almost looks like it has a crack in it, or is that a parting line?

Rick

 

[glennster]

yup, its a crack, gotta tig weld that shut.

 

[colekicker]

Pic #3 looks like the crack got bigger!

 

[glennster]

the wax will wick into the treads while still warm enough to melt it. it helps to lubricate the threads as you remove the broken bolt.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Nice work! Now...

If you are like most of the fellas I have bought stuff from over the years you will reuse that same bolt. Why waste a new one? Then some fella like me can scritch his head practically bald trying to figure out what the weird fastener is on the old machine he just bought!

 

[Hobo,NC]

I have never had any luck with plain candle wax but have when I used Castrol Wax Stick.

A bud turned me on to it to use on my band saw blade its magic...
Its also a low melt wax unlike regular candle wax..

 

[rrlund]

When we pulled the engine out of that 02 Explorer Sport Trac,we had to heat every bolt to melt the Loctite.
What I would have done with that one of yours would have been to weld a flat washer to it from the inside of the washer,then welded a nut to the washer. The heat from welding should have loosened it. I did that the other day on a bolt that was broke off in the tractor transmission housing where a loader brace bolted to it. It turned right out like nobody's business.

 

[old-9]

Also us oldtimers used to keep beeswax in our toolbox to lub screws both wood and machine. Works!

joe

 

[thartiga]

I've used the mig welding the nut on the broken stud a few times and always work. The heat plus rocking back and forth works.

Nice work.

 

[Leroy]

I just go across the road to the neighbors bee farm and get plain old beeswax.

 

[Andy Martin]

Nice pictures. I've never tried wax. I have learned that spraying a lubricant on it can backfire if you have to heat it again, the lubricant can cook in the threads. I had a exhaust bolt broken of in a truck head the other day that I couldn't get weld to stick to. Twisted off three nuts. He had tried to drill it and had a drill bit broken off in the stud. Wound up using a solid carbide end mill to cut the bit out and drilled it out. I hate drilling out studs.

 

[kruser]

Thanks for the webcast there Glennster - You going to post some farming adventures soon?
Yer phreind,
Jim

 

[MarkB_MI]

Nice pictures and explanation. I know a lot of folks swear by wax, but I believe it's the heat that is the secret. The heat loosens the bond between the fastener threads and the hole. To be sure, lubrication is good, but that wax can't last long at oxyacetylene and MIG temperatures. The flash point of paraffin is around 400F, while steel starts to turn red at about double that temperature.

 

[glennster]

Opening the bee hive saturday, i will post pics of me diving in the creek!!!!

 

[glennster]

Mark, i apply the wax as it cools, if the wax flares up, let it cool a little more, it should melt and flow easily., but not flare and smoke.

 

[ShadetreeRet]

At least you had it out there where you could get to it easily. I have a couple broken off in the exhaust manifold of my old truck and I believe it will be just as easy to pull the engine rather than try to get to it from under the truck.
I appreciate the photos and information, I have heard about this method, but first time I have seen it illustrated.

 

[jeffcat]

You put on a good show and tell. It would be my luck that the blasted metal would go crystal. Kerunch! Excellent.

 

[MarkB_MI]

>Mark, i apply the wax as it cools, if the wax flares up, let it cool a little more, it should melt and flow easily., but not flare and smoke.

But how much is left after you weld on the nut? I understand why you do it, it's sort of like incense at a Catholic funeral: It may not be necessary, but why take a chance by leaving it out?

 

[FBH44]

Thank you very much, that's very valuable. I've saved it.

 

[James Howell]

That's a good series of photos with step-by-step instructions.

Thanks for sharing with us.

By the way, do you have a similar set of instructions for "righting" an overturned grain wagon?

 

[glennster]

lot of shoveling

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[chuck machinist]

(quoted from post at 13:36:49 10/16/15) lot of shoveling

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Too close to the pond? HEE!