Loading…
9
Showerthought: the 3/8 bolt I rounded on a 6.0 Powerstroke at a truck stop near Amarillo taught me more than any class
I was 40 miles outside Amarillo on a road call when a guy's 6.0 Powerstroke lost its FICM and I had to pull the bracket in a gravel lot with temps hitting 103. The bottom bolt was already half stripped and my 12 point socket just polished it into a perfect circle. I tried a bolt extractor, broke it, then hammered on a 10mm 6 point and walked it out one flat at a time. Took me 90 minutes for a job that should've been 20, and the guy tipped me a cold Gatorade and $40. Now I keep a cheap set of extractors and a torch in the truck, but I still wonder if heat would've been faster from the start. What's your go-to when a bolt is past the point of no return?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
miles_sanchez27d ago
Past the point of no return" is where we split ways. A rounded bolt is not dead, it is just mad at you. Heat first, every single time. Get that sucker glowing just a little and it walks right out, way faster than an extractor chewing on a circle. Extractors are a last resort for me, not a first move, because when they snap you are drilling and that is a whole new level of bad day. The 10mm 6 point hammer trick works, sure, but 90 minutes in a gravel lot at 103 degrees is the price of doing it backwards. Torch in the truck is the best money you ever spent.
2