Newest member of the I hate torx club... Getting ready for the only mod I can
afford, Herculining the Jeep. Not surprisingly in the Canadian climate, I had a
decent amount of rust on the floor when I ripped up the carpet. So I decide to
be thorough, and make sure I clean up under my roll cage. All but 3 of the
bolts came out without too much frustration. But the last 3.... f*#*^Y%.
I drilled one bolt out clean, with the biggest drill bit i have (1/4"). That
did absolutely nothing. I broke off a drill bit in another bolt, and I broke
off an extractor bit in the 3rd.
With no options left, I take it into the closest shop (Canadian/Crappy Tire). I
decide to leave it up to the uncertified professionals and come back half an
hour later. The "installer" was quite pleased that he had successfully knocked
off all 3 heads of the bolts. Now he just had to worry about the threaded part.
(is this common practice?? don't most people just grind the edges off so they
can grab it with pliers and a torch?) It took over 2 hours to extract these
reasonably accessable bolts, AND he claimed that when he hit one of the threads,
it burst into flames and melted a huge section of my interior.
SO I don't have any springer-inspired final deep thoughts, but when Torx go bad,
they go really bad. And maybe there should be a special class on them in the
non-existant "installer" school that teaches you how not to melt someone's
vehicle if they are giving you money.
When facing a problem, a problem
bolt, or even a problem in life...
sometimes the answer unravels if
you take something away, other
times the answer is in adding
something new.
In the case of accessable torx
heads that are stripped out...
find a similar sized nut, and weld
them onto the head of the Torx, by
welding them only in the center,
through the hole. When it cools
off you now have a hex headed bolt
you can put a wrench on and
extract. The heat from the welder
didn't hurt your chances any
either, in fact, it should have
helped to lossen things up!
link16 06/29/2009 1:50 PM
He probably used an acetalene
torch and doesnt know how to use
it. Invest in an air hammer from
harbor freight ($15). I love it as
a great investment for troublesome
bolts.
-Alex
You must register with our forum to post a comment.
Jeep, Wrangler, Cherokee and Grand Cherokee are copyrighted and trademarked to the Jeep/Chrysler Corporation
JeepForum is not in any way associated with Jeep or the Chrysler Corp.
