Can't Win for Losing (Part 2)

 

With the top of the bolt evened back out, I decided to give drilling a second chance. This time I made sure to keep the bit as centered as possible. My second try worked great and I was able to drill through the entire length of the bolt. Unfortunately, I drilled the hole larger than the 3/16^th extractor bit included in my Blue-Point set rendering it useless. Ugh. So, I decided to move onto the Easy-Outs tapered bit extractors. You can find the set I used on Amazon here.

Using the Easy-Outs is… easy. Just drive the extractor into your newly drilled hole and turn. I started with the smallest one.

When the bolt did not move at all, I drove in the next sized extractor and while it felt tighter, I got the same result; the extractor just spun and did not grab the bolt. After looking closer at the hole, it looked like someone cross-threaded the bolt and broke it off. There is no telling how long ago this was done and what they were using to install the bolt; my guess is an impact driver with way too much torque. At this point I figured that I already have a hole, why not go ahead and drill it all the way out and rethread it. (Fortunately, that’s an option this time. To read about our last fiasco repairing a thread, click here). To rethread the hole, I used a standard metric tap and die set. If you don’t have access to an entire set, I would recommend you just buy just the size you need. In your set or on the package it should tell you what size to drill bit your need for the hole. My bolt size is an M8x 1.25 pitch; according to the drill guide in my set, it takes a 7mm drill bit.

When you’re ready to use the tap, things get a little tricky. It is really important that when you start the tap is straight and that it stays straight the entire time you are working.

I started by slowly turning the tap clockwise. You should start it off at one full turn. After the first full turn, back off by about half a turn in the other direction. This will help to remove the shavings from inside the newly cut threads. You really want to make sure that you remove as much as the shavings as possible. Otherwise, the shavings will cause the tap to angle to one side and you’ll have a crooked bolt. Once you’ve removed the initial shavings, you should be safe to go about every three turns before backing out. I just kept working the tap in and out until it was completely through the hole and I could see shiny new threads.

The new bolt fit perfectly.

And just in case you’re wondering, if the broken bolt would have come out I would have used my rethreading set like this one from Amazon. The rethreading kits are great tools for cleaning the threads once you have removed a bolt. If the bolt was especially hard to remove, it may be that rust or other gunk was clogging up the thread and gripping the bolt. The rethreading tools will clean out all of that gunk and make the bolt easier to remove next time. Since this Grizzly has given me so much trouble with bolts so far and since the bolt I just drilled out has an identical bolt on the other side of the frame, I went ahead used the rethreading kit in hopes of saving myself some time and frustration down the line. If you do have a rethreading kit, just keep in mind that they are not taps and will not start new threads -- they are for cleaning only. They are very simple to use just spin the cleaner in like a normal bolt…

Turn them in until it comes out the other side or bottom… When you remove the cleaner, you are all done. This is the best way to get as close to new threads as possible. Cleaning the threads doesn’t take long and if you are already having issues with removing bolts, I highly recommend taking the extra few minutes to save yourself some time down the line. I am thrilled to have this little project finished up. I don’t know what it is with this Grizzly, but I keep encountering small problems like this one. Here’s hoping we’re not replacing any more bolts anytime soon…