One of the frustrating things that can happen while wrenching is broken bolts, stripped heads, seized bolts. This can really put a damper on a job that is otherwise going well, costs time, and can really irritate a person. If you have the right tools and are patient, you can make a frustrating situation not so bad.
seized bolts, so the first thing I try to do is get it to move at all, even if it is just barely perceptible, (by the way, be sure it is not a left hand bolt before you decide its seized)if you can move it back and forth little by little, sometimes you can get it to go, if not try some kind of lubricant, I like Deep Creep by Sea Foam, if you can get it to where the threads are is the key, I have drilled holes into the threaded hole to shoot lubricant into the threads but sometimes for varying reasons that cannot be done. One thing I avoid that most people don't is using heat to break a bolt free, I will use heat in some situations but if I think the next step may be drilling, and you heat the bolt, it will temper it and you will really be hating life then. Most of the time with patience I can remove a seized bolt. However if it is in aluminum threads you may end up ruining them, but that's what heli coils are for, I'll talk about those in a bit.
Rounded off heads, there's a couple of ways to get these out, one is they have a tool for grabbing a stripped head and getting the bolt or nut to turn, but some times there is not enough room for the tool, or if you don't have the kit you can try this trick, I will use a punch and hammer to mushroom out the head a little then take the next size up socket and beat it on the head with a hammer, I've had pretty good success with this. Another way is to strike the head of the bolt with a chisle with a counter clock wise force. This will do one of two things, lossen the bolt or eventually take the head off, thus making it easier to drill. Do not attempt to weld anything to the bolt to help you remove it, if it doesn't work, you've tempered the bolt and you will ba hating life.
Drilling Bolts, if the bolt is accessible as is you've won half the battle, if not you will need to remove anything interfering with a straight shot with your drill. Short drill bits, 90 degree drill heads, reverse drill bits all help, but the number one key is to get the hole started dead fucking center, do this by using a punch and hammer to make an indent in the desired starting point to drill. When drilling start with a pilot hole, this is usually at least 1/4 the size of the diameter of the bolt. Work your way up a couple sizes at a time while using lubricant to keep your bits from burning and make sure you drill thru the entire bolt.....by the way if this is a stainless bolt, forget everything I said and get yourself a beer. But if not proceed, once you get over Half the bolt drilled out you could try an easy out, there are several differnt styles. In my experience they work maybe 10 percent of the time, but it's worth a shot....by the way, don't break this tool off in the hole, you'll be hating life if you do.If you are forced to continue to drill stop at one size under, at this point if you have the hole dead nuts center, you should be able to see the threads just starting to emerge, you can try a tap to remove the small amount of material and restore the threads, when doing this go slow and easy, maybe 1/8 turn in 1/4 turn out to keep the tap clear, use lubricant and if it feels like it's getting tight, back it out and try some more, these taps are very hard but also brittle and can snap off easier than you'd think. If for whatever reason you failed to thread the hole with your tap, and you didn't snap it off in the hole, it's time for the heli coil. So they sell different size kits for different size bolts and thread pitch. Find the kit you need and it should come with a tap, drill, thread inserts and an insert tool. All you need to do here is use the drill bit provided and drill as far as needed for the length of the replacement bolt. Turn the tap into the hole, usually I'll go deeper than the insert provided just because I may want to set the helicoil deeper than just flush. After the threads are set, put your insert on the provided tool and twist it in, remove the tool then break off the tang on the bottom of the insert, use a drill bit or punch. Test your repair with the bolt, make sure it threads freely all the way into the hole, also test the strength by tightening the bolt against a spacer or whatever.
Well that's all I've got for now, believe it or not there is a lot more I could put in here on this subject but I'm tired and want to stop now.
It will undoubtedly teach me a fair few things I know little about!
