Snapped Throttle Body Bolt

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by maslin

Ease of removal depends a lot on the bolt/hole interference, as well as the reason it broke off.

Interference threads and cross threaded? Good luck.

Loose threads and overtorqued? Should back right out as soon as the left hand drill bit bites.



That brings us to left hand drill bits. They're awesome. Specialized, but awesome. I believe the set I have was close to $400? Short cobalt left hand drill bits and a variety of removal tools. SnapOn, so you are paying for it. EXD35, currently $375 MSRP.

Removing broken bolts is part science, part experience, and part luck. 5 minutes, or several hours.

Why not just use right hand drill bits and reverse the drills direction -

(let's see who wants to think on that fer ah spell -


humfrz

[maslin]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Why not just use right hand drill bits and reverse the drills direction -

(let's see who wants to think on that fer ah spell -


humfrz

I've told this story before, but since you mentioned it...

Worst broken bolt I've ever had. 219 chassis CLS55. Rear subframe, left front bolt broken off flush in the frame rail.

Lowered the subframe just enough to get an air drill in and push. I drilled for a long time, too long. Switching between left and right drill bits i eventually forgot to switch the drill.

I was frustrated, done with drilling. One last forced push, right hand drill bit, drill rolling left. The bit welded to the bolt and backed it out.

I was this || close to buttoning it up and sending it to the body shop.

That's the luck part of it.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by maslin

I've told this story before, but since you mentioned it...

Oh, that triggered a back-in-the-day story. It was a lazy summer day, back on the farm and the crops had been laid by, so I decided to take the spark plugs out of the stove bolt 6 engine on my 1948 Chevrolet, to clean and gap them.

(Yep, clean and gap - that saved money by not having to but new plugs as often)

I pulled my car up under the shade of a big maple tree in the barnyard to do this 1 iced tea, 10 minute job. Into the second plug, that sucker snapped off clean at the base of the head! Shit, I was pissed. I was thinking I was going to have to take the head off and take it into the machine shop in town to have it extracted and tapped.

I was in the process of taking the valve cover off to get to the head, so I could remove it, when my grandfather walked over to see what I was cussing about. I showed him what I had done and how I was going to fix it.

He told me to go out in the barn and get him the large steel and wood handled screwdriver from the bucket that was wired on the back of the Oliver 70 tractor. I did that, all the time wondering how he was going to use a screwdriver to fix my problem. He then ask me to get him a hammer and a squirt can of kerosene. He squirted a bit of the kerosene on the busted off piece of spark plug, then took a pinch of Mail Pouch chewing tobacco and chewed and then spit a couple of times.

He then took the screwdriver and gently tapped it into the broken off piece of spark plug and with his steady, vice like grip, turned the screwdriver and backed the broken off piece of spark plug out of the head. -

He then went into the kitchen, asked my mom for a glass of iced tea, laid down under another large maple tree, rested his straw hat over his face - and took a nap.

I slapped a spare used spark plug in there and was a happy camper -


humfrz

[ActionMaxon]

Have you tried just taking the throttle body off and taking it out by hand? If they went in easy, and you didn't cross thread it, it's probably just chillin more or less loose. Use the other half of the bolt to turn it out.

Other than that, I second reverse drill bits. It'll bite in and yank that sucker out if it's not cross threaded.