Thank you SO MUCH for doing a broken bolt video UNDER THE CAR in a somewhat awkward-to-reach setting. The other available vids usually showed workbench type scenarios. Just a great presentation that matched up with MY scenario. I have two hitch mounting bolts on a 2006 Scion that I had to grind off the heads after a FAIL using bolt extractor sockets. Got the towing hook bracket off that way. The two tow hook brackets have to be removed to mount the tow hitch using their bolt holes, two on each side. The other side bracket came out without any major issues. Now I'm off to HF to get center punch, screw extractors, and left hand bits. Maybe even cutting oil paste, as one of the commenters here suggested, for an upside-down under-car scenario. Also, another commenter suggested using a piece of wood with a hole drilled in it as a centering guide for drilling. Good idea, I'll try it! Thanks again--the most helpful video I've found for my scenario.
Thanks a billion, I knew I could do it. Just never seen it done before. I so got this. My Semi Truck bumper ripped off snapped bolt heads off the bracket that meets the frame. I'll be drilling the 2 studs out and retread it. Thanks man!!!
If the surface around the bolt is flat you can use a piece of wood with a hole in it (using a drill press to make a perpendicular hole) to lay against the surface. You then put the drill through the wood and into the bolt to keep it more likely to stay square.
Yeah man , .. I picked up a 98 civic for my son , it's from PA .. While doing the suspension on it yesterday , one of the bolts for the lower control arm snapped. I don't know if heat would have helped , it was pretty rusted into the bushing housing with the lca. Now I'm here.. ahaha
@@reza_dc2 here is what worked on my 1985 corvette from MI. I bought a set of the bolt biter ratchet bits and used a breaker bar and a piece of pipe to get more torque. It was still pretty tough to do, but it worked. Highly recommended, I wish I had known that 3 years ago
@@retrogamerdave362 I don’t think I can break the bolt free due to rust , I’ll have to drill through it and sacrifice the threads. I’m going to run a nut on the backside and remove the oem nut that’ tac welded in place.
Every car in the uk is rusty after 3 years. There isn't a good place a car could come from here. Although people do say "oh it's been by the coast salty air" a lot. But they are all rotten rust buckets so I don't think that's any better. Nearly Everything snaps when undoing. You don't have the time to work it out back and forth or Let the oil sit on it overnight if your in a shop. Job are in and out and every thing is hammer on a socket to take the first layer of rust off and now it's not 15mm it's a perfectly snug 9/16 😂.
I have a fuel tank strap bolt that literally snapped for no good reason. Almost drilled trough the whole bolt with a left handed drill bit. Gonna try to get a stronger bit because it stopped working.This vudeo is the closest example of what im trying to do.
What do you do if you are off Center a bit. Drilled a small pilot hole but one side it is a little bit closer to the engine housing. I will be putting a helicoil in. So it should be ok as long as the hole is straight right? Do I just start at a bit of an angle with the larger bit and then straighten it up once it looks centered?
Redecking a trailer and all of the bolts were rusty and broke before I even started. Going to hit them with the angle grinder and use some cobalt bits to drill them out using this method. Thanks
0:25 re softer asian vehicle bolts. I've never heard this. Is there a rational for their choice of softer bolts? I snapped a control arm bolt that screws into a captive nut. Trying not to freak out :). My next step is to drill.
Yep it's very common. My dad used to be a mechanic and he was into Japanese bikes too, so he ran into it often. I've had a few JDM vehicles and bikes too. If you start getting into phillips screws like what's used for engine covers on motorcycles, an impact driver is highly recommended, otherwise the heads strip very easily. Not sure why their fasteners are softer, perhaps its a different composition or just not as high of a grade.
@@4DIYers the head of these screw are Jis rated, DO NOT try to unscrew them with regular Philips you will strip them. this is not because of the material softness but because of the head type
Dang, it's actually crazy hard to clean up my bolt, center punch and rethread. Tried to weld but the flux core cant withstand the torque i put on the nut
That’s my problem as you mentioned in the end is that my drill is too wide to fit into the space I need it to. It’s a broken bolt that holds the fuel tank strap on and working upside down makes it more difficult. 😞
@@4DIYers I got a 6” carbide tipped Milwaukee 1/4” bit and it was barely drilling it both in reach and getting through it. So today I got a 6” DeWalt hex bit extension for the drill and ofc I intend to put the bit in it to give me more reach. Thanks 🙏 for your suggestion I’m desperate for help and idk if I can get this done it’s a tough bolt.
@@richroc7 yeah, it’s been awful. Just broke a bolt extractor off this morning. I just started drilling the whole thing out but man is it slow going. I bought some well reviewed craftsman metal bits, but I can’t get very far. And of course being upside down makes it really hard to apply pressure.
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Thank you SO MUCH for doing a broken bolt video UNDER THE CAR in a somewhat awkward-to-reach setting. The other available vids usually showed workbench type scenarios. Just a great presentation that matched up with MY scenario. I have two hitch mounting bolts on a 2006 Scion that I had to grind off the heads after a FAIL using bolt extractor sockets. Got the towing hook bracket off that way. The two tow hook brackets have to be removed to mount the tow hitch using their bolt holes, two on each side. The other side bracket came out without any major issues. Now I'm off to HF to get center punch, screw extractors, and left hand bits. Maybe even cutting oil paste, as one of the commenters here suggested, for an upside-down under-car scenario. Also, another commenter suggested using a piece of wood with a hole drilled in it as a centering guide for drilling. Good idea, I'll try it! Thanks again--the most helpful video I've found for my scenario.
02:23 that poor little spider has been drilled!
🤣🤣🤣 ruthless!
Helps lubricate drill bit😂
Thanks a billion, I knew I could do it. Just never seen it done before. I so got this.
My Semi Truck bumper ripped off snapped bolt heads off the bracket that meets the frame.
I'll be drilling the 2 studs out and retread it.
Thanks man!!!
No problem, happy I could help and thank you for the kind words!
How is your drill bit going right through like it’s nothing?
His mind turned it into steel butter 🧈
A quality drill bit will do this, also dont push too much
If the surface around the bolt is flat you can use a piece of wood with a hole in it (using a drill press to make a perpendicular hole) to lay against the surface. You then put the drill through the wood and into the bolt to keep it more likely to stay square.
And this is why I try to avoid buying cars in rust belt states. Good video
yeah, guess where the car I am working on is from
Yeah man , .. I picked up a 98 civic for my son , it's from PA .. While doing the suspension on it yesterday , one of the bolts for the lower control arm snapped. I don't know if heat would have helped , it was pretty rusted into the bushing housing with the lca. Now I'm here.. ahaha
@@reza_dc2 here is what worked on my 1985 corvette from MI. I bought a set of the bolt biter ratchet bits and used a breaker bar and a piece of pipe to get more torque. It was still pretty tough to do, but it worked. Highly recommended, I wish I had known that 3 years ago
@@retrogamerdave362
I don’t think I can break the bolt free due to rust , I’ll have to drill through it and sacrifice the threads. I’m going to run a nut on the backside and remove the oem nut that’ tac welded in place.
Every car in the uk is rusty after 3 years. There isn't a good place a car could come from here. Although people do say "oh it's been by the coast salty air" a lot. But they are all rotten rust buckets so I don't think that's any better. Nearly Everything snaps when undoing. You don't have the time to work it out back and forth or Let the oil sit on it overnight if your in a shop. Job are in and out and every thing is hammer on a socket to take the first layer of rust off and now it's not 15mm it's a perfectly snug 9/16 😂.
Very good commentary.
Thank you!
I have a fuel tank strap bolt that literally snapped for no good reason. Almost drilled trough the whole bolt with a left handed drill bit. Gonna try to get a stronger bit because it stopped working.This vudeo is the closest example of what im trying to do.
What do you do if you are off Center a bit. Drilled a small pilot hole but one side it is a little bit closer to the engine housing. I will be putting a helicoil in. So it should be ok as long as the hole is straight right?
Do I just start at a bit of an angle with the larger bit and then straighten it up once it looks centered?
You can also use a Dremel to get the hole centered again
Great idea!
I'm gonna be drilling and tapping exhaust manifold studs on my 08 f250 5.4l Bec i have to replace my passenger side exhaust manifold
Redecking a trailer and all of the bolts were rusty and broke before I even started. Going to hit them with the angle grinder and use some cobalt bits to drill them out using this method. Thanks
0:25 re softer asian vehicle bolts. I've never heard this. Is there a rational for their choice of softer bolts? I snapped a control arm bolt that screws into a captive nut. Trying not to freak out :). My next step is to drill.
Yep it's very common. My dad used to be a mechanic and he was into Japanese bikes too, so he ran into it often. I've had a few JDM vehicles and bikes too. If you start getting into phillips screws like what's used for engine covers on motorcycles, an impact driver is highly recommended, otherwise the heads strip very easily. Not sure why their fasteners are softer, perhaps its a different composition or just not as high of a grade.
@@4DIYers the head of these screw are Jis rated, DO NOT try to unscrew them with regular Philips you will strip them. this is not because of the material softness but because of the head type
Part of the reason I believe is so the bolt threads will deform slightly when torquing it to spec instead of deforming the threads of the object.
Great video , thanks ~
Thank you too!
What is the make of your flare nut wrench? Does it spread when loosening a fitting ?
Dang, it's actually crazy hard to clean up my bolt, center punch and rethread. Tried to weld but the flux core cant withstand the torque i put on the nut
That’s my problem as you mentioned in the end is that my drill is too wide to fit into the space I need it to. It’s a broken bolt that holds the fuel tank strap on and working upside down makes it more difficult. 😞
Can you get a longer drill bit?
@@4DIYers I got a 6” carbide tipped Milwaukee 1/4” bit and it was barely drilling it both in reach and getting through it. So today I got a 6” DeWalt hex bit extension for the drill and ofc I intend to put the bit in it to give me more reach. Thanks 🙏 for your suggestion I’m desperate for help and idk if I can get this done it’s a tough bolt.
I’m in literally the exact same situation with a Toyota Tundra lol
@@falcongunner33 broken bolt on the fuel tank strap? Going upside down ofc?
@@richroc7 yeah, it’s been awful. Just broke a bolt extractor off this morning. I just started drilling the whole thing out but man is it slow going. I bought some well reviewed craftsman metal bits, but I can’t get very far. And of course being upside down makes it really hard to apply pressure.
RIP SPIDER 2:23
Would a right angle drill work pretty good ?
Yes you can.
my heart stopped when i saw that spider LOL
Spider at 2:24 lol
Poor guy. :(
I keep having trouble drilling into the bolt. I'm using Dewalt 20V cordless drill. Should I have use a hammer drill instead?
Impact or not? Might be easier to get it with an impact drill bit. High feed rate but low rotational speed 👍
@@bpw396 I see, I was using regular drill
The biggest factor with being able to easily drill a broken bolt is having a properly sharpened quality drill bit.
Hammer drills can break drill bits easier than normal drills
How do you choose the size of drill bit? Should it be slightly smaller than the bolt/hole size if you want to re-tap the hole?
Tap and drill indexing chart, I have one on my website www.4diyers.com/resources/metalwork/tapanddrillindexchartsae.php
what do i do if the bolt broke deep, and sheared uneven so i cant even use a center punch
The bolt for my dust sheild rounded off should i do this so i ca take off the dust sheild?
You can try locking pliers and heat before this.
how do you figure out thread size for tap clean up thanks and good vid
Measure diameter with vernier and use pitch gauge or the tap itself to measure bolt pitch against the original bolt
If you are working on a vehicle or some other equipment, the service manual will likely give the type of bolt
Great vid, i like the spider @ 2:22
Does the bolt head have to be broken off to drill out?
If some of the head is still on I like to use vice grips to grab it and twist it out. Easier than drilling it out
That rust makes me want to vomit! Awesome video though 👍🏻
My rear axle housing on my 4runner looks exactly like this! Haha gotta love the north east
Keep an eye on it, they're known to rot out unfortunately.
RIP spider
Really easy, unless you're upside down underneath of a car
I break 10mm bolts on my 1988 ae92 all day long LOL
You might also be able to use a 90 degree attachment to an electric drill.
its really a shame i have to watch this to get a bolt off of 10 year old car smh. NEVER BUY FORD!
Drilling into a bolt is impossible. Don’t waste your time.