Disk rotor bolts stuck

[98Redlne]

New Brake Rotors.....

So with new wavy rotors in hand (2 fronts, 1 rear), I head out to the garage to spend the evening putting them on and bleeding out my new Galfter SS lines.:eusa_dance:

Grab my trusty impact wrench, 6mm impact hex driver and start to remove the rear brake rotor bolts.......

3 of the bolts come out, without too much effort. A couple of the heads look like they have started to yield a bit. Will replace them for good measure.

3 of the bolts simply will not move.

I keep at one of them too long with the impact wrench and completely round out the center.....SHIT.....:damn angry:

OK, so I F'ed up one bolt, I have 6 new ones in my parts box.

Next stuck one, I hit with the torch for a bit. I figure the heat might loosen up the Locktite. Back to the impact wrench and watch the center round out of that one.....MotherF**ker!.:double angry bird:

The next one gets more heat than the second one. This one, like the last, rounds out.......You !@#$%^&* !@$@#@@% piece of $@^@@^&*$:real mad:

I tried to get my vice grips on to the head from the side to try and get it loose...no dice, they just slip off and further chew up the head.

Out comes the dremel. On one of the stuck bolts I grind a couple of flats on opposite sides, go straight in with my vice grips and clamp on as hard as I can, following up with a 15" crescent wrench to turn the vice grips. With a considerable amount of force the bolt begins to turn. After getting it out, it looks like the entire bolt (all of the threads, top to bottom) were dipped in locktite. The bolt was literally glued fast to the rim.:a014:

Next bolt, same procedure and it yields as well......OK things are going better now. I guess this was my visit from Mr. Murphy for the night.....:eusa_pray:

Last bolt, same procedure, but this one shears off about 1/16" above the rim....Son of a BITCH!:bang head:

Time for a Hail Mary. Out come the set of EZ-Outs. I don't use them often, but they have saved my bacon on more than one occasion.

I am not particularly thrilled about having to drill the center of this bolt out of my aluminum rim, but the EZ out should work.

Drill the hole down the center, start the EZ-Out and bear down on it to try to get the bolt free. Now the EZ-Out snaps off flush with the top of the bolt, and I give up for the night. :bang head::bang head::bang head::bang head:

On Monday, I will be looking for a machine shop that will be able to remove both the tip of the broken EZ-Out and the remainder of the last rotor bolt that I am certain is completely covered in Locktite like the 2 others. If it weren't for the broken EZ-Out, I would probably just drill the whole thing out and Helicoil it.

Hindsight being 20/20, if the impact wrench with 240 ft-lbs of torque couldn't get the bolt free I should have known that the EZ-Out was not going to be able to deliver enough torque to break it loose.

Tonight just wasn't my night.....

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Those bolts are a very soft, shitty metal, and the allen "holes" are shallow to boot. I was scared the same thing was going to happen to me when I removed my rotors, I could tell how soft the metal was. You've tried evey thing I would know to try. i think a machine shp is the best bet so you don't ruin your wheels....

 

[jedi-]

You need to find a workshop with a spark eroder and spark it out.
Any form of trying to machine it can get ugly fast as the broken EZ-out is rock hard and anything trying to machine it will easily wander off damaging the rim.

Yamaha uses a thread retainer which makes these tough to remove, the hex needs to be really clean and undone with a good quality allen key. Heating the bolt usually breaks down the sealant.
Sometimes where I have struck a similar problem, tig welding some kind of key to the rounded head usually works well as the heat from the tig breaks down the seized thread.

Good luck!

 

[FREERIDER]

ut oh, I remember the locktite getting away from me on some of the last little projects. Im worried now that its time to take everything apart. Lessons from Dad are coming rushing back to me. Ive got a torch, Ive got cheater bars and dremels. And BIG Fing Hammers. But Im still crossing my fingers.

 

[SvenDGAF]

I never ever use loctite. I copper grease every bolt, I don't care what the manual says. when I next want it off / apart i want to know it's going to cooperate! :biglaugh:

 

[satariel666]

Whenever ill get one of those shitty bolts stuck im going with hard method.
Im welding M8 nut to the top of that damm bolt and never met one that can stand against.

 

[Jdk203]

You need to find a workshop with a spark eroder and spark it out.
Any form of trying to machine it can get ugly fast as the broken EZ-out is rock hard and anything trying to machine it will easily wander off damaging the rim.

Yamaha uses a thread retainer which makes these tough to remove, the hex needs to be really clean and undone with a good quality allen key. Heating the bolt usually breaks down the sealant.
Sometimes where I have struck a similar problem, tig welding some kind of key to the rounded head usually works well as the heat from the tig breaks down the seized thread.

Good luck!

Hes right. As a machinist I've taken out a lot of broken/stripped screws. But the worst is when theyve already put a hole in it out of center or broken something off in it such as an easy out or drill bit.

It is possible to drill through the center of that easy out though I wouldn't call it easy and its a little risky. You have to use solid carbide and it is very brittle meaning you couldn't do it with your home drill press. It has to be fixtured solid. Take it to a good machine shop and they should be able to get you rolling again in no time.

ut oh, I remember the locktite getting away from me on some of the last little projects. Im worried now that its time to take everything apart. Lessons from Dad are coming rushing back to me. Ive got a torch, Ive got cheater bars and dremels. And BIG Fing Hammers. But Im still crossing my fingers.

Whenever I apply locktite I put a smally drop on a piece of cardboard and then dip the screws in once as to only get a small dab on the side of each screw as I insert them. If your inserting clean screws in clean holes should be enough to do the trick. If the holes and bolts are greasy or oily I would argue the loctite is damn near useless.

 

[dannymax]

Those damn oem 'peanut butter bolts' give everybody heartburn.

We need a source for hex-head bolts, similar to the caliper bolts, that will shoulder into the milled recess in the rotors. Made from s/s or titanium.

Come to think of it....has anyone tried a caliper bolt in the rotors, or is anybody in a position to see if one would fit?

If there isn't a source would one of you machinist guys want to tackle it? Jedi?, Przemek?, Jdk?

I'm in for a couple dozen, at least!

 

[Redbone]

those damn oem 'peanut butter bolts' give everybody heartburn.

We need a source for hex-head bolts, similar to the caliper bolts, that will shoulder into the milled recess in the rotors. Made from s/s or titanium.

Come to think of it....has anyone tried a caliper bolt in the rotors, or is anybody in a position to see if one would fit?

If there isn't a source would one of you machinist guys want to tackle it? Jedi?, przemek?, jdk?

I'm in for a couple dozen, at least!

ditto!

 

[one2dmax]

Time for another video. They aren't that hard to do either. Don't start out using an air impact. You need to use a manual "hammer" type impact. I will show on the video. Then if you do round one off you can use a large easy out right where you rounded out the head. I've removed hundreds of these screws and never broke one off (plenty do round out the heads).

Sean

 

[one2dmax]

Oh, and by the way. I have chromed stainless rotor bolts available. They run about $2 a bolt though.

Sean

 

[98Redlne]

I was able to find a machine shop in my area that was open AND was able to extract the broken bolt. $35 and an hour and a half and I was on my way.

Sean...you have an email regarding the SS/Chrome rotor bolts. I am in for a full set.....

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Come to think of it....has anyone tried a caliper bolt in the rotors, or is anybody in a position to see if one would fit?

They wouldn't clear the forks, the shallow allow bolts only clear by a few MM's

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Time for another video. They aren't that hard to do either. Don't start out using an air impact. You need to use a manual "hammer" type impact. I will show on the video. Then if you do round one off you can use a large easy out right where you rounded out the head. I've removed hundreds of these screws and never broke one off (plenty do round out the heads).

Sean

Sean, i enjoyed that last video you posted, keep it up!

A manual impact driver is a really sweet tool, I finally got one after 30 years of wanting one and but only thinking of it after I needed it and not before.....

 

[dannymax]

Sean, i enjoyed that last video you posted, keep it up!

A manual impact driver is a really sweet tool, I finally got one after 30 years of wanting one and but only thinking of it after I needed it and not before.....

This sounds like the way to go...like you Rusty, I always wanted one too, always thought they were a neat tool.

What one did you get?

 

[98Redlne]

Possibly I was doing it wrong but before starting with the Air/Electric impact gun (borrowed from a friend), I attemted to get them out with one of the manual impact tools.

I wailed on that thing and none of the bolts even came close to coming loose.

 

[[email protected]]

This sounds like the way to go...like you Rusty, I always wanted one too, always thought they were a neat tool.

What one did you get?

I bought a Crapsman one. Its been good to me. I've had it for around 13 years no with no issues. Just used one a week ago to remove the screws on a bearing retainer behind the clutch basket on a friends katana. There were a hell of a lot of fasters holding the engine cases together on that POS.

 

[maleko89]

This sounds like the way to go...like you Rusty, I always wanted one too, always thought they were a neat tool.

What one did you get?

I love mine. It saved me lots of trouble on a set of carbs I worked on awhile ago....bracket bolts were loctited in.

 

[naughtyG]

I can vouch for mine too! I actually have two of them. Don't think my rotors or carbs would have come apart without them. The quality of the bits that come with them is very important, and the rotational pressure applied while hitting them as well.
Having said that, I did almost round off a couple of rotor bolts, but they came out in the end. Good job I had spares. As others mentioned, when doing the loctite thing I also only put a small drop on each thread. BUT, there's always a lot of dried up loctite in the thread holes, because it's hard to clean those as they are not a standard thread size.

 

[one2dmax]

I think I underestimated the cost of the bolts. I think it's around $50 for a set. They are a low head profile so should clear everything.

Sean