Need Help: Removing broken bolt from chassis, Can i drive without a RSB?
07-24-2009, 02:19 PM
#1
Need Help: Removing broken bolt from chassis, Can i drive without a RSB?
***FINAL UPDATE!***
Well after all the trouble, cussing, and anger the car is finally fixed. I took it to Heidt Machine and Tool off of Greenback and the mechanic there, Mel, did an amazing job and at a great price.
He used a series of extracting tools, drills, and bits and was able to get the bolt out. I accidentaly drilled a little into the existing threads on the hole and he felt that trying to rethread the hole wouldnt be a good idea. he drilled it out and installed a helicoil. Cleaned everything up and called it a day.
Did an amazing job and now my new Cobb RSB, mounts, and Kartboy endlinks are installed!
Thank god!
***UPDATE 3***
Well after 20 calls and 20 times i was told you are f****d and they wouldnt touch it. I finally found an awesome shop to take care of it. They had a brand new EVO MR out front, the guy owned like 2 STI's before that, and they build track cars.
Anyway the guy is basically going to drill the bolt out, then he is going to cut a small hole in my frame and put a nut inside and then weld it and clean it up. The nut will be flush with the frame just like the original one. I am crossing my fingers, the car should be going in tuesday or wednesday.
***UPDATE 2***
I have decided that i either need to have a helicoil installed, a bolt welded to the frame, or the sway bar mount welded to the frame all together.
-Does anyone know any shops that can do any of these methods? I am having a hard time finding a shop to help me out.
Thanks
Will
***UPDATE***
- The bolt is stuck in the chassis of the vehicle in the forward sway bar mount hole next to the fuel inlet pipe.
- There was a drill bit stuck inside of it
So i decided i would cut the bolt around the drill bit with a hack saw. This worked and the exposed portion of the bolt fell off leaving a portion of the drill bit exposed. I used a pair of vice grips and twisted the drill bit out. I tried again to use some extractor bits but unfortunately the hole is offset to one side of the bolt and not centered so the extractor bit wouldnt work. I was going to try and drill a new hole inthe center but unfortunately i couldnt get to the center of the bolt, because the other hole already covered the center. I decided finally to just try and drill out the bolt, only to find out that the hole already drilled was extremely slanted and i ended up drilling into the side of the mount hole. So now the hole is f***ed. No there is no happy ending to this story.
Basically now all that i can think of to fix it is to take it to a shop and have them take off the inlet pipe, drain the tank, drop the tank, remove all the charcoal crap, and then do one of two things.
1-drill out the rest of the bolt, get a helicoil and drill a hole for that to fit into and do it that way.
2-drill out the rest of the bolt and then get the threaded portion of a bolt that will fit through the hole on the cobb sway bar mount and then weld that threaded bolt to the chassis so instead of the bolt going through the cobb sway bar mount and screwing into the chassis. the sway bar mount actually slides over the bolt on the chassis and then gets locked on with a nut. Make sense?
Any other ideas out there?
Shop suggestions?
Etc?
F...M...L!!!!
***BEGINNING***
Hey guys,
So im an idiot and i broke the head of a bolt off and the bolt is stuck. The bolt is located on the rear of the car, its one of the sway bar mount bolts and happens to be the one right next to the fuel inlet pipe. I believe the bolt is cross threaded and is extremely jammed. It gets worse, i tried to use a bolt extractor and accidentally broke off the drill bit inside the hole i was drilling. I have tried vice grips, pliers, and drilling the drill bit out and nothing is working. So i am basically in all kinds of ****.
So here are my questions:
- any ideas on how i can get the bolt out?
- any ideas where i can take it to get it removed?
- can i drive my car to the shop without the RSB on it?
Thanks guys,
Will
Well after all the trouble, cussing, and anger the car is finally fixed. I took it to Heidt Machine and Tool off of Greenback and the mechanic there, Mel, did an amazing job and at a great price.
He used a series of extracting tools, drills, and bits and was able to get the bolt out. I accidentaly drilled a little into the existing threads on the hole and he felt that trying to rethread the hole wouldnt be a good idea. he drilled it out and installed a helicoil. Cleaned everything up and called it a day.
Did an amazing job and now my new Cobb RSB, mounts, and Kartboy endlinks are installed!
Thank god!
***UPDATE 3***
Well after 20 calls and 20 times i was told you are f****d and they wouldnt touch it. I finally found an awesome shop to take care of it. They had a brand new EVO MR out front, the guy owned like 2 STI's before that, and they build track cars.
Anyway the guy is basically going to drill the bolt out, then he is going to cut a small hole in my frame and put a nut inside and then weld it and clean it up. The nut will be flush with the frame just like the original one. I am crossing my fingers, the car should be going in tuesday or wednesday.
***UPDATE 2***
I have decided that i either need to have a helicoil installed, a bolt welded to the frame, or the sway bar mount welded to the frame all together.
-Does anyone know any shops that can do any of these methods? I am having a hard time finding a shop to help me out.
Thanks
Will
***UPDATE***
- The bolt is stuck in the chassis of the vehicle in the forward sway bar mount hole next to the fuel inlet pipe.
- There was a drill bit stuck inside of it
So i decided i would cut the bolt around the drill bit with a hack saw. This worked and the exposed portion of the bolt fell off leaving a portion of the drill bit exposed. I used a pair of vice grips and twisted the drill bit out. I tried again to use some extractor bits but unfortunately the hole is offset to one side of the bolt and not centered so the extractor bit wouldnt work. I was going to try and drill a new hole inthe center but unfortunately i couldnt get to the center of the bolt, because the other hole already covered the center. I decided finally to just try and drill out the bolt, only to find out that the hole already drilled was extremely slanted and i ended up drilling into the side of the mount hole. So now the hole is f***ed. No there is no happy ending to this story.
Basically now all that i can think of to fix it is to take it to a shop and have them take off the inlet pipe, drain the tank, drop the tank, remove all the charcoal crap, and then do one of two things.
1-drill out the rest of the bolt, get a helicoil and drill a hole for that to fit into and do it that way.
2-drill out the rest of the bolt and then get the threaded portion of a bolt that will fit through the hole on the cobb sway bar mount and then weld that threaded bolt to the chassis so instead of the bolt going through the cobb sway bar mount and screwing into the chassis. the sway bar mount actually slides over the bolt on the chassis and then gets locked on with a nut. Make sense?
Any other ideas out there?
Shop suggestions?
Etc?
F...M...L!!!!
***BEGINNING***
Hey guys,
So im an idiot and i broke the head of a bolt off and the bolt is stuck. The bolt is located on the rear of the car, its one of the sway bar mount bolts and happens to be the one right next to the fuel inlet pipe. I believe the bolt is cross threaded and is extremely jammed. It gets worse, i tried to use a bolt extractor and accidentally broke off the drill bit inside the hole i was drilling. I have tried vice grips, pliers, and drilling the drill bit out and nothing is working. So i am basically in all kinds of ****.
So here are my questions:
- any ideas on how i can get the bolt out?
- any ideas where i can take it to get it removed?
- can i drive my car to the shop without the RSB on it?
Thanks guys,
Will
Last edited by 1FSTREX; 08-07-2009 at 02:17 PM.
07-24-2009, 05:18 PM
#7
Called a million shops, researched, found a bunch of alternatives and every specialist said you are screwed.
So i think what i am going to do is cut off the bolt flush with the chassis. Sand it down to make it totally flat. Try and redrill a hole in the center and try a punch again, or just try and drill the center out as close to the edge of the bolt until i can try and crush the bolt in.
07-24-2009, 05:22 PM
#8
Registered User
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Santa Rosa
Posts: 481
Car Info: 03 Sonic Yellow WRX Sport Wagon
How much of the bolt is sticking out? I have these extractors I got from Sears (but not Craftsman) that look like sockets for spline drive lugs. You pick the smallest one you think you can hammer on there and...hammer it on there. Then you use a socket wrench to unscrew it.
If there isn't enough of the bolt for that to work, can't you get the broken extractor out with needle nose or just drill through it with a better drill bit and then try a bigger extractor? I'd drill the largest hole you can without damaging the threads of the hole so you can use the largest (RE: strongest) extractor in the set.
Good luck! And yes, you can drive without the sway on if you need to go to a mechanic/macine shop to extract it for you.
If there isn't enough of the bolt for that to work, can't you get the broken extractor out with needle nose or just drill through it with a better drill bit and then try a bigger extractor? I'd drill the largest hole you can without damaging the threads of the hole so you can use the largest (RE: strongest) extractor in the set.
Good luck! And yes, you can drive without the sway on if you need to go to a mechanic/macine shop to extract it for you.
07-24-2009, 05:23 PM
#9
Registered User
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Santa Rosa
Posts: 481
Car Info: 03 Sonic Yellow WRX Sport Wagon
So if this is the bolt that secures the swaybar bushing around the swaybar and to the mount, can't you just remove the entire mount and take it to a machine shop?
07-25-2009, 11:13 AM
#14
I have decided that i either need to have a helicoil installed, a bolt welded to the frame, or the sway bar mount welded to the frame all together.
-Does anyone know any shops that can do any of these methods? I am having a hard time finding a shop to help me out.
-Does anyone know any shops that can do any of these methods? I am having a hard time finding a shop to help me out.