[watcanido]

Hey guys/gals I was trying to take off my fairings to prepare for installing some goodies on the weekend but was cut-off by a stupid mistake I made. I was trying to take off the front wheel fender but stripped the two hex bolts just under the front lights, I think it may have some locktite on the threads. Anyone have any good way/tips on trying to get it off?

 

[Felix]

How badly stripped are they? Can you get a flat blade in them? Drill them out would be one nasty option.

Felix

 

[watcanido]

They're pretty stripped. I have read some stuff about drilling it out but I'm afraid I might screw up the plastic. I'll try finding a flat blade (you mean flat head screw driver right?) or a real blade?

 

[Felix]

Flat head screwdriver, yeah sorry.

Felix

 

[cuber351]

i immediately thought of this when i read the topic title
http://www.4grabit.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1

 

[dknollRX7]

haha, sadly enough...so did I. I just left it up to you to post it.

 

[Felix]

Haha, anyone used one of those? Does it work?

Felix

 

[cuber351]

looks like watcanido will have to be the guinea pig

 

[watcanido]

I managed to get one of the two off just now. That Grabit looks like a good product but I dont know if there is enough room for a drill + bit to get to this bolt.

 

[ccy]

about this grabit tool...i don't quite get how it's suppose to work
can someone please explain? i need to remove a partially stripped bolt attaching the seat before i screw it up even more.

 

[watcanido]

I think your supposed to drill a small hole (cone shaped) using the tool in the center of the stripped screw/bolt then you reverse the grabit tool to the extracting part of it. You then set your drill to spin counter clock wise making sure you are in the center of the head so you can get it out easier. Its basically trying to screw in but it can't, so it unscrews the bolt/screw instead of make a hole. Hope that makes sense.

I'm going to try another method I read. I read you can solder a allen key wrench on the stripped bolt then unscrew it, this method is supposed to melt the locktite if there is some on the threads when you heat up the stripped bolt with the soldering iron, sounds like a good idea. wish me luck.

 

[dknollRX7]

I have been able to get out stripped hex bolts by hammering a torx socket into the hole (really tight fit) and then break it loose. btw torx sockets look like and are sometimes referred to as star bits...I'll see if I can find a pic.
http://ultimatetoolco.com/images/torx.jpg

 

[Guest]

There are three ways I can think of. 1) heat up the head of the bolt with a small tipped oxy-acetylene torch to red hot and let it cool. the tightness will become relaxed. 2) drill a suitable hole and then hammer in a tool called and easy out. They come in different sizes for different bolts. there is the square kind and the spiral kind. both are good. It is a hardened steel tapered piece. made just for this. 3) drill out the head of the bolt down to the body of the bolt. Then drill and tap out the hole. ( takes much skill.) All these ways are dangerous to the machinery they are in. It is very much better to find an expert and pay him, than to screw it up very much worse and then go to him latter.
Sleepy

 

[watcanido]

I got it out guys thanks for all your iinputs. I used a dremmel tool, I just made a slit in the middle with a cutting blade and used a flat head screw driver it was very easy.