Stripped bolt head at over pipe/front pipe connection, what now? :(
 

http://i.imgur.com/V5ebhHD.png

Hi everyone, I was trying to install my UEL catless headers yesterday. In order to do that I have to remove the overpipe and front pipe. The flange that connects the overpipe and frontpipe (see above) was really rusty, and I stripped the head of the bolt on the front pipe side. I just stopped then and there because I am not sure what to do now at this point. I believe the bolts on the overpipe are welded?

Can anyone help me out? What should I do?

Thank you in advance.

https://d17kynu4zpq5hy.cloudfront.ne...oPmErRmSWDq4WT

this is the bolt that i stripped.

this guy is nuts, but awesome

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWM3Ue1ojdE"]How To Remove Rounded Nuts And Bolts - YouTube[/ame]


they have a bunch of different tools you can use,

i have a set of "turbo Sockets
http://www.sears.com/search=turbo%20sockets

they usually can get the job done

I don't have a solution, but to avoid this happening again, spray the bolts down with PB Blaster and let sit for a few min before wrenching. Stuff works miracles.

Not sure how it will help but I will give it a shot!
http://www.denverrelief.com/newslett...f_files/70.jpg

Smartass. :paddle:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Blaster-16-PB-Penetrating-Catalyst-oz/dp/B000I2079E"]Amazon.com: Blaster 16-PB Penetrating Catalyst - 11 oz.: Automotive[/ame]

When this happened to me, we had to weld a new head onto the bolt and used a breaker bar... Only used the breaker bar and not any pb blaster because we needed to get some frustration out.

Work harder, not smarter... Errrr...

this seems to be the best solution currently, ill keep this in mind and bring it in to a mechanic. I dont have the tools or the skill to dig my way out of this hole. I have certainly learned from my mistakes, will be pbblasting every rusty bolt before i torque it. fml..

:cry::(

I ran into the same problem when I was redoing my exhaust. Since I was replacing everything I didn't care so much and broke out the dremel to cut off the other troublesome bolts. I think I only had one bolt come out easily and I had soaked all of the bolts with PB Blaster. I was less than thrilled at how difficult it was compared to other exhausts that I've done.

I can't remember if the rear of the front pipe are the same, but the front nuts on the front pipe are crimped or whatever to lock them in place. I was able to remove one, but the other locked up and took the stud with it. I mean yes its not that helpful now, but this is a good opportunity for you to find an excuse to replace that overpipe.

you stripped the nut, that is threaded on the stud of the over pipe. if you mess up the the threads on that stud, you will likely have to drill it out, and replace it with a true bolt/nut combo. I would (option one) pony up, take your car to an exhaust shop and have them remove it and either clean up the threads and apply high temp graphite grease so it dosnt happen again, or drill out the stud and replace with a bolt/nut setup. Option 2, use a dremel or something similar and cut the nut off, remove the front pipe, drill out the stud your self. the chances of you removing the nut your self without damaging the threads of the stud are pretty slim.

Back in the day, before PB Blaster, WD-40 and fancy adjustable sockets, we used to give the nut a shot of coal oil (kerosene) and wait a minute.

Then, heat the nut up with a torch, then take a cold chisel and either cut it off or make a notch in the nut and pound on it in a counterclockwise direction until it either loosened up or split and came off. Be sure to use a BFH (big f _ _ hammer).

OR, as mentioned above, take it into a muffler shop, before you screw it up even more ......:slap:


humfrz

There is an app for that...

http://screwdrivers.viabloga.com/ima...1_GF_t.800.jpg

Same one on mine came cross threaded from the factory. I just snapped it off since I had all new parts. Then made my way to the o2 sensors since I was putting on my OFH, one of those was also cross threaded from the factory as well so, had to get a new o2 sensor. Really sad considering that's how it came from the factory.

That shit happened to me too, at the exact same location, probably an over tightening from the factory.. But I cut it off, then drilled it out with pure titanium drill, then just replaced the bolt and nut :)

Good luck..

No choice, sell it.

update: i brought it to a shop, they welded a head onto it, heated it up, took it out, along with the threads :(, so they retapped it to a bigger diameter, and then just put in a new bolt and nut. Also charged me 70$. lesson learned...


going to get my headers professionally installed.

Don't count yourself out. Maybe you just need a better collection of tools to make the job easier? Having be right combo of sockets, wrenches, extensions, ratchets ect, can make the job much easier.

stripping a bolt was either incorrect wrench size, cheap wrench, or a bolt that was so stuck, something had to give. i think you can tackle the header your self, its pretty straight forward.

Six point sockets. Every time.

dafuq is that tool??? I messed up some nuts (weather/me over tightening 'em) and cant seem to get them off! Thats a bad@ss tool.

Nut Splitter

Similar but different

http://www.tacomascrew.com/core/medi...71c6ad7112e687

Ordered the one in vid off of e-bay. $15 w/ shipping. I'll let you guys know how it is when it gets here!

google up "Nut Breaker" and you will find a ton of examples. Pretty cheap at the discount tool places, I paid like $15 for the ones I have. They come in a few sizes.

I do a fair bit of Brit car restoration and between heat and these things I manage to get most things apart without breaking them.

The person who posted "cheap wrenches or wrong size wrenches was also right

Glad you got it taken care of, if you don't have the tooling it's probably no t cost effective to do it yourself.


For future reference, there's really about a hundred things you can do. There's really no magic way to get stuck hardware apart without effort, you just have to be more stubborn than the thing you're trying to get apart.


In your situation my first attempt would be to heat the nut up red hot (concentrate the heat on the nut, not the stud), and then put some vice grips on the nut and it should spin right off. The heat will expand the nut causing it to loosen. Rather than vice grips, you can also take a pointy chisel or punch, and try to hammer the nut in a circle. Hit the face of the flat kind of close to a point in the direction you want to turn the nut. You'd be surprised how effective that is, if you can get a good swing at it, it acts like an impact.


If you have a good socket selection, you can also sometimes hammer on a 12 point socket, one size smaller (metric or standard, whatever fits) and grab the nut that way.



You can also take a die grinder with a burr or cutting disc (whatever fits), cut the thing off, and then drill the stud out of the header flange.


As said above, in terms of not rounding it to begin with, wrench quality is important here. Better wrenches have much tighter tolerances and harder steel so they flex less, plus they are designed to grab the flats of the hex rather than the points. This is why you see the pro guys shelling out $500+ for a set of wrenches from sk/armstrong/snapon/whatever.

I bought these from Amazon and they saved my butt a few times already.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1500_.jpg

I'm trying to understand what you stiped. First of all there is no "bolt". The overpipe has a threaded hole in it. There is then a threaded stud which screws into the overpipe. Then you have a nut that screws onto the stud. So which is stripped? The nut, the stud or the overpipe itself? If it's the nut, replace the nut. If it's the stud, replace the stud. If it's the overpipe then drill it out and replace the original stud/nut with a bolt and nut.

Here is the stud:
https://parts.toyota.com/p/STUD-BOLT...U00301117.html

Edit: Nevermind, I see you took it to a shop.

THOSE LOOK COOL, i googled the patent number visable on the first socket, appears that Irwin had it first and AJTool/Craftsman copied it...bad doggie, bad doggie.

Sears has stolen tool designs and slapped the Craftsman brand on them several times. There's a company called Loggerhead that created a unique kind of universal wrench they branded as the Bionic Wrench. Sears signed them to an exclusive deal to distribute them only through Sears. Sears placed several orders, then suddenly stopped ordering and refused to respond whenever Loggerhead tried to find out why. With the contract in place, Loggerhead couldn't talk to other retailers like Lowes or Home Depot about distributing their tools without being in breach.

Then suddenly a Craftsman version of the Bionic Wrench showed up in Sears stores, and the Loggerhead guys understood what had happened. Sears had them sign the exclusive deal specifically so they could steal it while preventing Loggerhead from selling it anywhere else. Loggerhead is a small company, and suing Sears nearly put them out of business.

Eventually they won a $6 million judgment against Sears in a unanimous jury verdict. But Sears appealed and got a new trial, and the new judge set aside the jury verdict and declared Sears the winner anyway. Loggerhead got screwed all over again.

I had pretty much stopped buying any Craftsman tools after that bullshit and their huge drop in quality and gone over completely to Kobalt. It sickens me now to see Lowes giving Craftsman junk top billing in their stores. Every year at Black Friday and Christmas Lowes runs tool specials on Kobalt. This year all the specials were on Craftsman instead.

If there's an Irwin version of those sockets, buy that. They'll be much higher quality than the Craftsman garbage.

Craftman was sold to Stanley-Black and Decker a year ago. That ended all hope of ever seeing decent quality tools from them ever again. They will just be a brand name on the usual imported junk.

I've been buying only Ridgid and Husky lately. Does anybody know anything dirty about those brands?

I love my 24" Husky TQ wrench. It's pretty dirty right now... I was using it when I smashed my finger hard enough to lose the nail. :bonk:

^^^^^OWWWWW!

What on earth were you wrenching on? - :eyebulge:

humfrz

I don't buy Husky because the quality isn't that great. It all has a cheaper feel in the hand than Irwin and Kobalt even when new. I bought a Husky nut driver set and had the handle fall apart and the mechanism get kind of crunchy-feeling, and I bought a Husky tool bag that started coming apart at one of the seams. I haven't seen any point in wasting more money on Husky after that, when every Kobalt or Irwin tool I've purchased has been nearly flawless.

If I just need a cheap one-time tool or a tool for a high risk situation, Harbor Freight's tools are at least as good as Husky for considerably cheaper. I'm not really afraid of losing HF tools, so I take some of them with me on junk yard runs.

I don't know about Ridgid. I have a lot of Ryobi tools, but recently I've been buying all Milwaukee stuff and doubt I'll ever change back. The Milwaukee Fuel line is simply fantastic.

Just a rusty nut on my front endlink... It was hard to turn, then was not. My hand was tightly holding the wrench. My finger got smashed on the edge of the rotor.


Still, I Love my Husky TQ wrench. I keep it in the car.

I just pictured an old man snuggling with a TQ wrench in bed. I am jealous of your intimate relationship.

I have probably left a pound or more of flesh behind doing just that over the years.

Welp, iffen you had been born a few years sooner, you would have learned by starting cars. NEVER wrap your thumb around the crank handle. In your case it would be to NOT grip a large wrench such that if the nut/bolt gives way, your hand is not between the wrench handle and where the handle will stop.

….and thar ya have it .. :D


humfrz