Sorry about the other malfunctioning posts, but my computer or Pirate was having a difficult time posting. Anyway, the six bolts that hold my clutch flywheel to my engine sheared off and I managed to get four of them out with a drill bit and Craftsman bolt extractor. However, on the last two bolts I broke off two separate bolt extractors inside the bolts. Any tips or ideas on how to get the bolts or the extractors out? I don't want to have to attempt to drill through the hardened steel of the extractors. Thanks for any ideas.

You could try a left handed drill bit, or slowly drilling them out.

they make those kinda drill bits???


anyway to get the bolts out your kinda stuck drilling it out AGAIN or seeing if you can get a grip on the extractor with a vise-grips or something. how old is this truck that the fly wheel nuts are stuck in there? my 78 f150 came out like nothing when i redid my clutch and thats the first clutch replacment since 82.

I'm going to try a chisel and see if I can back the extractor tips out. They are broken off flush, so I can't get a hold of them with vise-grips. The truck is an '85, and the problem wasn't that the bolts were stuck in there but that they sheared off flush with the crank. I don't know how or why they broke, but I will definitely be using loctite and new bolts this time around. Anyway, I will see what I can do tomorrow. Hopefully I can get away with not having to drill through those extractors as that would be a bigger pain in the neck than I want right now. Thanks for the tips.

Try welding a nut on top of the whole mess. That will give you another try at using a wrench or socket on it. I have taken out many broken bolts this way. The heat helps break it free too.
HTH
--John

Try welding a nut on top of the whole mess. That will give you another try at using a wrench or socket on it. I have taken out many broken bolts this way. The heat helps break it free too.
HTH
--John


ditto.. weld a nut to the end of it and back it out.

Welding a nut to the end isn't possible. The bolt is in there too far to reach.

sounds funny but yeah, they do make left handed drill bits, but the problem is still the hardened steel extractor broken off. My solution... get a 1/8" tapered carbide burr (cost about $8) in the dremel tool aisle. Use a dremel, die grinder, or similar high speed rotary tool. It will zip right through the extractor and the remainder of the bolt.

Also if I am having throuble with a broken off bolt, rather than breaking off an E-Z out, I just keep drilling the bolt out with larger and larger bits just slightly smaller then the bolt diameter, until just a tiny bit of bolt remains, the run a tap to clean out that last pesky bit of bolt. Good luck :D

Izeloz- did ya get those bolts out?