I've got a broken bumper bolt on one of my rear bumpers. There's not enough of the bolt sticking out to get a grip on it. I've used easy outs on smaller bolts but this one is a pretty good size bolt. Are there any tricks I can use to get this out without damaging anything?
Removing a broken bumper bolt
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Assuming the bumper is off the car, assuming you are rechroming the bumper,,,,,, mig weld a smaller bolt onto the broken bolt. ( that is whats left of the broken bolt ). Then heat the sh*t out the nut that is part of the bumper. Or you can see if the rechromer will do it for you .but.... If you are not rechroming it ,, well good luck- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Glen, Most of the bumper re-chromers will remove the broken bolt for you. Other wise it will require drilling and then re-tapping. Start with a 1/8 bit and start drilling and work your way up to about one size smaller that the bolt size, then re-tap hole.New England chapter member, 63 Convert. 327/340- Chapter/Regional/national Top Flight, 72 coupe- chapter and regional Top Flight.- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
I just went through this and used Edwards method above. Center punch the bolt, drill it out with increasing bit sizes. If you get close to the center you will be able to drill almost everything except the threads. Then tap it out... Carefully. A broken tap in a hole is a lot harder to get out than a broken bolt. The hardest part is holding the bumper in position for drilling. I tried both my drill press and a hand drill. I went up to a 3/8 drill then tapped with 7/16-14 and it's all cleaned out. I tried heating and using an easy out but no luck with that method. The side bolt on both rear bumpers broke.- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Sorry for the big pictures, but here is what I do. The hard part is getting a drill to go down the center, so I gave up on that. This is especially true when the part can't be mounted in a drill press. So I just drill a hole without being concerned with whether or not it's centered.
I usually start with a small bit, then go up to the hole shown above. Then I use cone shaped carbide bur and work around the top of the hole to enlarge and center it.
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
I just went through this and used Edwards method above. Center punch the bolt, drill it out with increasing bit sizes. If you get close to the center you will be able to drill almost everything except the threads. Then tap it out... Carefully. A broken tap in a hole is a lot harder to get out than a broken bolt. The hardest part is holding the bumper in position for drilling. I tried both my drill press and a hand drill. I went up to a 3/8 drill then tapped with 7/16-14 and it's all cleaned out. I tried heating and using an easy out but no luck with that method. The side bolt on both rear bumpers broke.
Paul- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
I tried that freeze off stuff an rusted screws in BBQ grill and it didn't do squat; didn't even get cold let alone freezing. Mixed up half and half acetone and auto tranny fluid,squirted it on and was able to remove rounded off screws with straight jaw vice grips. Know this is different snce can't get hold on any of screw; just wanted to share my experience with the freeze off ; didn't work for me.- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
I tried that freeze off stuff an rusted screws in BBQ grill and it didn't do squat; didn't even get cold let alone freezing. Mixed up half and half acetone and auto tranny fluid,squirted it on and was able to remove rounded off screws with straight jaw vice grips. Know this is different snce can't get hold on any of screw; just wanted to share my experience with the freeze off ; didn't work for me.New England chapter member, 63 Convert. 327/340- Chapter/Regional/national Top Flight, 72 coupe- chapter and regional Top Flight.- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Made the pictures smaller, but I wanted to post this because it has really worked well for me. The hard part is getting a drill to go down the center, so I gave up on that. This is especially true when the part can't be mounted in a drill press. So I just drill a hole without being concerned with whether or not it's centered.
I usually start with a small bit, then go up to the hole shown above. Then I use cone shaped carbide bur and work around the top of the hole to enlarge and center just the top of it.
Here is the result. You can see that only the close part or top of the hole is centered on the broken bolt, but as you look deeper its off. That's okay because the top of the hole will guide the next larger drill bit.
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Then drill again. You can see the new hole it's pretty well centered. For some reason I can never get it this good unless the part is mounted in a drill press, which is hard sometimes.
From here you can use a larger bit and get very close to the threads. Sometimes they come out at this point, maybe due to the heat generated from the grinding and drilling. In this case, the next size drill bit I used took the remaining bit of the bolt out.
As suggested by others, when you get close enough to the threads you can just run a tap through the hole.
This works great when heat isn't practical, or when the bolt head breaks off, but heat is much faster!
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Then drill again. You can see the new hole it's pretty well centered. For some reason I can never get it this good unless the part is mounted in a drill press, which is hard sometimes.
From here you can use a larger bit and get very close to the threads. Sometimes they come out at this point, maybe due to the heat generated from the grinding and drilling. In this case, the next size drill bit I used took the remaining bit of the bolt out.
As suggested by others, when you get close enough to the threads you can just run a tap through the hole.
This works great when heat isn't practical, or when the bolt head breaks off, but heat is much faster!
Terry- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Are you tapping new threads into the still present remaining periphery of the old frozen bolt rather than getting all of old bolt out first??? Please clarify.- Top
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Re: Removing a broken bumper bolt
Not sure if the question is for me, but in the example above I was able to get the old bolt out. Most of the time I can get so close to the threads that there isn't much of the original bolt left, and by messing with it, I can get it out. The tap just cleans things up. Sometimes there is so little material left that I can use a small chisel or ice pick or screwdriver and work the remaining metal out. Hard to explain, but easy to do. If there is a little lip, use a small chisel or something to hit it and push the threads towards the center of the hole. I wish I had pictures of that, but I don't. The worst that can happen if you really mess up is that you accidentally damage the threads. Been there done that, then it's time for a hell-coil or equivalent.- Top
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