Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Oh crap, bolt stripping out!!!!!!!! Help!

Guys, trying to remove my front disc to upgrade it, and one of the 6 button head bolts that hold it on is stripping!! the 6mm allen head socket in it is stripping, not the threads themselves. THAT would be way worse.

Ok so I have some bolt removers, but I think I would have to drill out the bolt to do that, and I think it's pretty much gone anyway, so my question is two fold. Any advice for removing it? And where can I find a replacement? It's got a little stepped shoulder to it (looking at one of the other ones I managed to remove) and I'm worried average goe hardware store won't have it... Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks a billion.

Craftsman has these: Craftsman 3 pc. Screw-Outâ„¢ Damaged Screw Remover Set
They have saved me a few times.

Soren

Sux don't it?
You should have no problem getting a replacement SS one at a big hardware store. Just stick with the allen head and it should not be a fitment problem.
I currently have managed to strip both of my small set screws out on the bar end caps. I have new ISO grips to install and have managed to already break off both of my EZ outs. Darn it. My best bud is a machist and told me to just quit dicking around and buy some decent reverse drill bits. They will either: A)Grip it and pull it right out. or B)Get head off enough to grab it and mangle them out.
Good luck. Beer and swearing seems to help me a lot too, especially if done simultaneously.

Soren, just got back from sears, got myself a set similar...

Yes Pat it blows big time... I just got back from almost 3 hours of a wild goose chase. The parts dept at the Triumph dealr is closed on weekends and their parts room is locked. One guy did go in the back and look thru their sort of junk drawer just to see, nothin... They are new to Triumph, so I think most of their spare random stuff is off Indians.

Also Checked Lowes, Sears, AutoZone, Pepboys and an Ace. Nothin... The biggest problem is there's a very small locating shoulder, so it's not your standard button head bolt, altho at this point I would take a regular button head since the other 5 locating shoulders should hold the disc correctly. I'll snap a photo of it so you guys can see. I'm gonna try the parts Dept at the Triumph dealer monday, and inquire about some TBS needles while I am there. But if ANYONE has one, or knows they can get one and wants to mail it to me.... Just lemme know!!

I'm debating trying to remove the screw now since it's gonna be 60 tomorrow (and was today) I might but the other 5 back and take it for it's maiden spin of the year, ya know? We'll see...
Thanks for the help.

Before you try drilling this out if you have not completly
rounded out the hex you can put a dab of valve grinding
compound in it to get a little bite. I do this when I feel
one starting to let go. It also work on philips head screws
also. Use like 400 grit compound, not too couse not too
fine. We do this on aircraft stuff all the time because
at O/H you remove 1000's of screws and some are bound to
get stripped. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't
but you can make a real mess with a drill in a hurry
if you aren't careful. Better safe first.
Good luck
Todd

Another thing you could try is using an imperial hex key that's fractionally larger than the metric one it's supposed to use... you'll need to tap it in with a hammer and you'll only get one shot at it, but it won't make matters any worse.

Umm there's a point, you ARE using metric hex keys, aren't you? Coz imperial ones're fractionaly wrong and they'll strip your bolt heads in no time.

Matt

I got the same problem on one of the allen bolts that hold the rear brake pads in, I think the dealer slightly over tightend it and stripped it out when they done the first pad change

Yeah I am using metric. Tried the allen bit on the ratchet, and the regular old allen key. I might see if I can find one that is a little more snug... Yesterday I ended up just putting it back together and riding it for a while, have let too many 65 degree days go by already this year... It's gonna be cooler this week so I will tackle it some evening this week.

Well I went to the nearest dealer today again, the one who's parts dept is CLOSED on weekends, the time when most of us are working on our bikes... anyway. They were real nice. Ordered me a couple bolts for the brake rotor. $6 and change for those!!! But better to have the right part. I also ordered some TBS needles, AND the parts guy ordered a couple for himself to try on a customer's bike after hearing I was using them!! HA!! All in all, nice people there, just a bit of a pain to work around their schedule is all. Plus to call them you gotta listen to a bunch of junk before you can actually get a real person... So my next task is getting the stripped bolt out... Hopefully it goes smoothly!

Benny,
I have mentioned this before, but, I would imagine those screws may have been installed with some sort of loctite or retaining compound. I don't know this for sure, never been there or done that. If you find an allen that fits snugly in what's left of the hole, try using a propane torch with a pinpoint flame to heat the screw before you make that final strip-out grunt.....

Ben,
This is what I did after almost rounding out an allen bolt:
I got some epoxy putty (filled epoxy, A + B putty are several other names)and filled the bolt socket with the stuff. I stuck my allen wrench into socket and taped it there. Then I waited until the next day, untaped it and easily removed the allen bolt. It took patience to allow the epoxy to set, but I wasn't in a hurry. Had it been good riding weather, I would have not had the required patience.
I then took a 1/16" grinding disc and cut the wrench off at the bolt head. Wrench still usable, threw the bolt away.
I should have put the wrench in a vise and tapped the bolt off with a hammer and chisel.
Ride Safe,
Dennis

Hey Grump, yeah they are blue locktited in there. The parts guy suggested heat too. The cool thing is you can see the tip of the bolt thru the back side, so I can heat it up from both sides. I have a butane soldering iron with a torch tip on it, should be a localized enough heat source I think. Thanks for the advice guys.