broken muffler bolt

[tophopper]

 

[wgr]

A mig welder works great to build up the broken stud , you can then use vicegrips to turn or weld a nut on the broken stud.Thats if it is not broken down to deep.

 

[Dadatwins]

Strong vise, tiny drill bit, small ez-out, lots of lighting and a quiet room. Been there done that and best to get the old one out. Use a small center punch before drilling. good luck!!

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Originally posted by Dadatwins
Strong vise, tiny drill bit, small ez-out, lots of lighting and a quiet room. Been there done that and best to get the old one out. Use a small center punch before drilling. good luck!!

That is probably the best way to tackle this. If the bolt was not bottomed out the broken piece should come out rather easy since it is not under tension. The biggest hurdle is getting the hole started and drilled straight. You don't want to veer off into the aluminum threads. Patients and good sharp tools are required for this job.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Most times when the head breaks off, the rest comes out easy. Not with these Stihl bolts. There's some goo on the threads. I wonder if heat would help in addition to the other ideas presented.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Originally posted by Mike Maas
Most times when the head breaks off, the rest comes out easy. Not with these Stihl bolts. There's some goo on the threads. I wonder if heat would help in addition to the other ideas presented.

Couldn't hurt!!!

 

[BlackSmith]

I've had good luck removing small bolts by tig welding a nut onto the bolt...the heat should release any Locktite™...let'er cool before ya try to remove bolt

 

[SilverBlue]

As long as you have the two bolts that fix the muffler to the cylinder then don’t worry about one of the bolts that holds the shell together. Clean the seams and use a good heat resistant glue suitable for aluminum and your all set. Do yourself a favor and grind out the restrictions while you have the muffler apart.

 

[tophopper]

 

[NeTree]

If yer going to weld on the stud, don't overdue the heat on the aluminum... it melts at a MUCH lower temp.

 

[glens]

How in the hell the machine screw "just broke off" ¼" into the hole is beyond me.  Rather than a vibrational thing it sounds like it was snapped off during an attempted removal.  I'd guess there was too much thread-locking compound and/or a ham-fisted (shop?) mechanic involved in the mishap (maybe a screw too long was bottomed-out hard).  Recessed that much with that diameter screw, it's not likely any welding is going to take place.  Though I've had luck with a stick-welder and jabbing a thin stick onto the fastener for a handle, that sounds a little tight.

Drill and extract and maybe drill more and tap to the next size fastener.

Glen

 

[hokiebob1]

Buy yourself some left-handed twist drill bits, center punch it, then drill it. Its likely that it will begin to spin out while drilling-if not, easy out with a little heat from a small propane torch.

 

[jokers]

If the removal is important to you, as it should be, you can always take the saw to a machine shop who will remove the broken bolt for a fee. They will be able to set up securely enough so that there is no risk of veering off course and causing any damage to your cylinder.

Russ

 

[TonyM]

No matter how you end up, make sure you start with center punching and drilling on center. If the bolt is broken off 1/4" deep, then the best way is with a transfer punch that fits the threaded hole. If you have access to a drill press or small knee mill, you could then clamp the jug (or the saw) so that you know you are drilling straight. Otherwise use care and drill by hand (sometimes nice to have another person sight the drill bit for you). If nothing else works (easy out, etc) then you just drill with the tap drill size and the remaining threads will fall out leaving the hole undamaged (if you get it centered). A little off center won't hurt, but you may have to chase the threads with a tap. I'd almost not try the easy out, because it is too easy to break a small easy out, and with a broken easy out in the hole, the task gets much harder.

 

[046]

To remove broken studs

1. apply a penatrating oil, lightly ping stud w/hammer and let sit for awhile.

2. if you are lucky, you have enough threads to grab w/visegrip or a snap-on thread vise tool and remove.

3. if you are unlucky and have no stud remaining to grab. then you will need to drill out.

4. stuff rag down port, center punch stud taking extra care to punch in center of stud. being off center will cause you to go into the aluminum in the next steps.

5. start with a drill size much smaller than stud. I generally start with 1/8in and progressively go up in size bits.

6. stop when you reach the edges of aluminum/threads. then chase out remaining threads with correct size tap.

This is a tried and tested, but time consuming method for removing broken studs.