TheSamba.com :: View topic - Inner cv-joint 12pt bolts stripped by previous owner-HELP!

Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:12 pm

I tried to find an answer on the forum, but came up empty, so here's my first posting . . .I am taking on the replacement of cv's and was bout ready to turn out the the bolts at the transmission after cleaning and found that 4/6 bolts are stripped. Does anyone have any ideas for pulling those bolts out? can I reverse thread a heli-coil into the bolt and reverse thread a new bolt in then turn the 12pt bolts out? never done anything like that before, but i just don't know where to go from here. don't really want to put it all back together and try to find someone elso to do it. Any leads? :cry:

86' Syncro sunroofer gold
surfcruiser

Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:22 pm

Calm down, your over thinking this!
Iv had this happen a few times. Get a small (4 inch) pipe wrench. clamp over the outside of the 12 points and pull or push. Should pop right off. Most of the time the pipe wrench will mess up the outside of the allen 12 point but your going to replace them anyway.

jcl

Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:29 pm

Can also try small vice grips, pounding on a 12 pt socket, or grind the head off.

Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:30 pm

Grab it with a small vice grip and make sure you got a good bite on it before turning it. Clean it really good so vice grip does not slide off. Apply a little heat if you have to but be REAL careful with that, real careful! Above all be patient and take your time so you don't make matters worse. Good luck

Sat Jul 05, 2008 5:22 pm

2 vice grips. 1 to clamp on the offending bolt, the other clamped on the screw end of the first. Then tighten away on the first. Much more grip strength__less likely to strip the outside. Have fun :(

Sat Jul 05, 2008 5:48 pm

No vise grips, youll bust your nuckles!!
Small pipe wrench by design will tighen the harder you pull, and you can add a cheater bar if needed.

jcl

Sat Jul 05, 2008 6:03 pm

Here's another :roll: option.

Use a wheel to cut a healthy slot. Those shoulders are *deep*, then a ratchet with a driver pulls em nicely. You can even re-use em if you're cheap, but I wouldn't, though I have. :oops: huh?

Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:37 pm

The other option is a bolt out. The ones the craftsman ones that sears sells work very well even on round things. If you tap them on with a hammer they will have no problem getting the CV socket head bolts out. At least they've always worked for me.

Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:14 pm

Another solution requires a bit of hammering. Clean out the hole well. Real well like with brake cleaner. Take a big flat ended drift and stick it in the hole. Take a big hammer and smack it square a few times. Now take a cheap oversized (Sears so you can return?) Allen socket. Pound it in. Remove with a ratchet. Maybe help with a small vise grips too. BTDT!

Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:45 pm

<< Now take a cheap oversized (Sears so you can return?) Allen socket. Pound it in. Remove with a ratchet.>>

Bingo---

Here's the easy answer.
Hammer in an allen a C-Hair bigger.
Now--here's the dot on the eye for getting the bolt loose without stripping the inside of the bolt head round.
Attach the allen head socket to the end of an impact driver.
Hit the hell outa it--it'll drive the allen in deeper, and as it's doing this, it'll break the bolt loose at the same time.

Hand held impact driver's for this job--or any stuck axle bolt is a simple answer and a necessity.

Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:55 pm

Did you clean the 12 pt socket out fully before you tried inserting the star adapter? Find a flat blade screwdriver that barely fits into the socket and twist it around to loosen the crud. If you have air give it a good blast as well. Drive the star tool into the socket with several blows of a hammer. If it doesn't look like it went in far enough repeat the cleaning sequence above.

Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:01 pm

I had a stripped cv bolt at the driver side wheel a couple of months ago. I had no clue how to get this bolt out from this difficult location. Sears just happened to have a set of bolt removers on sale for $6.99. Just hit the thing onto the bolt and twisted it out with a 17mm ratchet. That little set is worth its weight in gold.

Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:42 pm

I guess the common answer here is to drive something slightly oversized in.

I forgot about the impact ratchet. Those bolts usually are not that tight. Anything to grab the bolt.

Last resort is cutting it off or using heat.

All very fine ways of taking those things out.

I always put new ones back in which come in the full kit.

Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:07 am

Thank you all for the friendly help and giving me the will to go on. The slotted method worked for one of the bolts, but was exhausting as I could not get the my grinding wheel the bolt. I hacked a slot and then used a small file to widen the slot. Yesterday bought an easy out bolt extractor. Instead of drilling a hole into the bolt (little sketchy) I just used a larger turn-bit and used the existing stripped hole in the bolts as the drilled hole. tapped the bit in to it and was able to turn the bolt out with vice grips on the easy out bit.
Thank you all for the calming and inspiring advice.
one happy non-camper!!!!!
gorge runner is right the set is worth its weight in gold. :lol:

Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:34 am

Glad ya got it out---

Here's a couple word's of warnig on using an easy out's to remove any stipped headed bolts / studs.

They are hardened, and are rear brittle, and if tweaked a little too much, they will snap like ice.
Then you are really screwed & tattooed.

The best way to get any frozen bolt out worked out--even with a half messed up head on it is to jam a torx, allen, anything into it, and using an impact driver beat the heck outa it with a 2 lb. ball pein hammer.
A small sledge hammer would work well too.

The key issue here is that if the bolt had been attempted to get backed out with a impact driver the head would have never have been screwed up in the first place.

I recall awhile back, having to remove the axles in my 89 Carat.

The bolts were eaay to get out with a 14" swivel headed rachet onn the trans side--but were locked up tight on the outer stub axle side.
I stopped dead in my tracks right there, not really wanting to make myself any more work than needed.

I grabbed the impact driver, with a 6" extension on it with the bit on the end of that, and beat the hell outa them bolts for 20 minutes a side.

They all backed out, with the heads in tact, and no being PO'ed that the heads stripped.

Get an impact driver in your tool box--they're worth every penny you pay for them.
They work well, and will save you a bunch of time & aggravation in this type of situation.

Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:13 am

I agree strongly with Terry on owning in impact driver. Not something I take out of my tool box real often, but mine has saved me many a curse word over the years.

Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:00 pm

r39o wrote: Another solution requires a bit of hammering. Clean out the hole well. Real well like with brake cleaner. Take a big flat ended drift and stick it in the hole. Take a big hammer and smack it square a few times. Now take a cheap oversized (Sears so you can return?) Allen socket. Pound it in. Remove with a ratchet. Maybe help with a small vise grips too. BTDT!

Yeap
http://www.benplace.com/images_westfalia/allen_tools.jpg

Ben
http://www.benplace.com/cv_joint_maintenance.htm

Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:52 pm

Thanks TK. just the push in the right direction I needed in the tool department. Used one in my solar installation class, but was unsure if I should buy one or would really need one. Gonna buy one this week-end. Probably would have helped when I replace the cat. convertor :)
Thanks again