Snapped Pinch Bolt, Now What??

[NoCalNick]

Good day, So I went against my instincts and tried to remove the pinch bolt drivers side and snapped off the head. Since there was so much torque removing the head I'm skeptical about trying an easy out on the rest of it. Suggestions.......please??
Thanks,
Nick

[Glennda5id]

Drill it out. You can either try to drill out the bolt very carefully and save the threads or drill all the way through on both sides and use a bolt and nut.

Use a steel carbide bit from home depot. Dewalt or other quality brand. Be careful when drilling. The carbide bits are more fragile and can break easily. If you break one off that will be really hard to drill out.

Take your time!

[grossgary]

Throw the easy outs away - they are trash for stuff like this. If that thing shears off (which they usually do with any kind of use like this) you're in for a world of hurt trying to get that thing out, that material is a pain to work with. it's extremely hard but very brittle (like concrete blocks). can hold thousands of pounds but light taps break them.

1. get the bolt out...drill it. high quality machinist grade bits are your friend. keep them oiled and from overheating. drill from the *bottom* of the bolt so you are esesentially "loosening" the bolt as you drill...the right handed drilling from the bottom is like a left handed "loosening" motion from the top/head side of the bolt. and it may spin out.

left handed drill bits are great for bolt extraction...but this is a rare case where you can get to the bolt from the other side.

2. if the threads are damaged or you have to drill it out larger - install a bigger bolt with a nut.

3. take the knuckle off and have a machine shop get it out, they do this stuff all day long and will have no issues getting it out and saving your threads. might be worth the $50 or so to have them do it and save you the grief, tools, possible damage of the threads, etc.

4. replace with a used knuckle

[NoCalNick]

Awesome advice from both of you, thank you very much. Will take my time and do the drilling myself, not a big deal, backside start, excellent.
much appreciated!

[NoCalNick]

UPDATE - Running it over 300 miles, no issues without fixing it.........
Had to try it, but will certainly get it fixed.
Just FYI.
Thanks all,
Nick

[subiesailor]

Big fan of the little diamond dusted dremel bit for this sort of thing. The easy out hard as **** and brittle bolt removers suck! The broken easy outs are even harder to grind out with the dremel. Keep it to the lowest speed watch your heat and the bit will last the whole job. Grind down the bolt till your just shy of the threads then use a die to clean it out. Have had to do this a number of times since my first busted bolt experience what I promptly made 10X worse by busting off a easy out tool which was near impossible to grind out. The drilling part is surprisingly pretty easy its the rest of the job that can get super difficult if you complicate it with a broken removal tool. I drill then hit it with the dremel and all of the bolts I've had to do this have been removed with little to zero thread damage to the part.

[NWSub]

if you are up to taking the whole strut out and taking it to a shop with a cutting torch, they will make short work of getting that bolt out.

[highest_vision]

Weld a nut to it and heat the knuckle red hot. It is not tempered. If you weren't planning to already, you will need to replace the ball joint.

It is not a good idea to drive without that bolt! Unlikely that the joint can come out, but if the socket starts to spread (unpinch) the knuckle could become unserviceable.

James

[NoCalNick]

Thanks guys, understood completely. I'll be giving the drilling a shot later today and will let you know how it goes. I'm sure I'll have a solution. LOTS of great advice here!