Snapped bolt. Any advice?

Well about time something unfortunate happened. Installing DuroBumps, first one went good. Second one, the bolt surrendered. What’s the best way to deal with this. Extractor kit?

 

heat, penetrating blaster, left hand twist drill bit, screw extractor, hopes and prayers?

 

Worst case use a drill that is smaller than that and drill it out. Be super slow and make sure you’re not going crooked. I haven’t had any good luck with extractor kits on the past. I just learned to drill them out now and save my time/ money getting an extractor kit.

 

My favorite way of dealing with a seized and broken bolt like that is to weld a flat washer to it, then weld a nut to the washer. Just as it’s cooling to where the dark red color is fading, start trying to work it free with a wrench. If it just budges, let it cool more, soak in penetrating lube and then work it back and forth until you win.

That only helps if you have a welder or access to one.

 

So uh if I can’t fit a drill in there I gotta drop the lower control arm yeah?

 

Yup

 

Guess I shoulda prayed more

 

I don’t know if you’re doing all 4, or just the two, but you can poke the straw on a spray can up onto the top side of the bump stop bolt / weld nut inside the frame. To give things a good soak a day or two before trying to remove the stock bumps. I was able to get mine out this way when I put in my 6112 spacers this summer.

 

Mine was going really easy, I messed my thumb up yesterday at work so I think I just bent the bolt trying to compensate. Going to try and extract it, again it was just a bit tighter than hand loose

 

Mine broke too, drilled and put extractor in it, then the welded nut broke off inside the mount. Luckily I was able to get a totally different bolt to grab on the remaining material pretty good. Thought it would fall out within a week, nope been 3k miles and still hangin tight. Have a rivnut kit and plan to try that at some point. Maybe in the Spring or early summer. For now just watching it closely and hoping that the bolt don't wind up in my rear tire if it falls out.

 

It should just rust in place and then become a part of the mount LOL it is now Kaiser Permanente

 

Too much Fluid Film on my truck, guess I could brake kleen good and epoxy that bitch in though!

 

Use a good extractor and be gentle. Don’t break the welded nut. Or you’ll have to do this ridiculous shit.

 

Maybe weld a 3/32" rod to the nut

 

In my case, I was actually removing a 1" bump extension, apparently made from 100% Chinesium crap!

 

PSA extractors are not for seized bolts. A broken bolt is a pain, a broken extractor is a real bad day.

I'll concur with welding being the easiest solution if that's available.

 

The problem with this component is the engineering. The diameter should have been and could have easily been significantly larger. No excuse for this that I can think of.

 

A nitrile glove and some super glue works even better.

 

Nice! In that case, an extractor has a good chance if you can get in there to drill. Maybe an angle drill with frame supported / suspension at full droop?

 

Left handed drill bits will sometimes grab and remove, but didn't do it in my case. Much like you mine was just slightly more than hand tight. Halfway out and snap! Not sure they don't bend slightly when getting pounded by the LCA.

 

How did you fix? Trying with extractor and 90 degree drill adapter. Problem now is no way to hammer the extractor bit in, so not biting..
Nevermind saw your post

 

I get that, been there! Luckily I had a really good extractor unlike most other designs. Really aggressive and I was able to mostly just twist it in with an open end 3/8". Problem was it allowed for so much torque it broke the weld on the hidden nut. Just got really lucky as said above, found a bolt in my junk that would grab on the material still remaining, think I applied some marine epoxy to the threads and snugged it up. Actually thought it wouldn't last a week. Been 3k plus miles and it is miraculously still in there. Will try to look at it more after winter now that I have other options. At the time I was short on time and didn't plan for an all day affair. Simply thought, maybe 20 minutes! Wrong!!

 

This happened to me changing out my bump stops with my lift. 1 sheared the rest came out fine, nice and slow. It’s a relatively soft stud so it’s easy to drill out, but I just dropped the LCA. Made all the difference in the world when it came to drilling and actually extracting it. This is what mine came out like.

 

Alright I’m done for the night. Couldn’t get extractor to bite. Gonna see if a friend of mine who’s uncle welds can hook me up. Otherwise I’m genuinely at a loss. Maybe take it to a frame shop or something? Not sure at this point. I know if I have to go somewhere it’s gonna be expensive.

I would consider dropping the LCA to drill it out but I’m not having any luck drilling it out as is..

 

Sorry bro, I truly feel your pain! I place blame on poor engineering. Clearly several people have this same problem, so that points to a faulty design. Sucks big balls, that is for certain! Keep us posted on what you figure out.

 

Lots of good suggestions here. Ill.list a couple I didn't see mentioned, that have gotten me out of a bind more than once.

A small chisel, and a steady hand. Put the chisel at an angle on the bolt, offset to one side or the other, and get a good bite with the chisel, try going both ways with, if you can manage to thread it clockwise, you can get it out with a magnet

Dremel. Get a small, pointy burr bit, and grind a nice groove all the way across the bolt to get a flathead screwdriver on it. Don't skimp on the groove, you want all the bite you can get with your screwdriver. It's a time consuming process, but it does work.

Just don't get into the threads on the nut, if you do, you can always clean them up later with a tap.

 

One of the worst parts about this whole mess is I'm not sure you will notice any significant difference with the super bumps or durobumps. Didn't notice much, if any on my truck. I know from the contact marks it was and still is making contact at times so why don't it feel different? Cheap things aren't good, good things aren't cheap! May go back to the Timbren active bump plan, much softer material, but they are certainly proud of them little profit makers!

 

Good points. Found out the dremel method by accident a few days ago in a stripped bolt, worked like a charm. Sadly there’s no room to work on this bump stop without dropping the LCA, in which case I’m good friends with my dealer and would have them do it so I could drill it out. Last thing I need is to strip bolts on the LCA that haven’t moved in 12 years

I hope you’re wrong haha! But only one way to find out. Either way it’s a good learning exp. I think I’m gonna try and drill thru the bolt today, maybe it’ll collapse on itself and worst case I have to retap.

 

Damn, this was almost a week ago.

Still not resolved. The friend whose uncle welds, his uncle lives wayyy out. No chance.
Local shop that's done all the work on my dads Jeep said $400 because they'd have to drop the LCA.

The way I see it, three options.
Pay the $400, let the capable shop deal with it
Drill it out myself, possibly destroying the welded nut in the process
If I destroy the nut, take it to a metal fab or auto body shop and have them fabricate a new front bump stop mount OR cut into the mount and weld a new nut.

$400 is a hard pill to swallow. I think I'm going to find the hardest drill bit I can and drill it out, worst case it'll probably cost $400 with a month long wait to find someone who wants to weld a new nut.

 

I have welded many of nuts on bolts with success. However, some have broke a second time. Also, even with a nut welded on the broken bolt, it may still break the nut off the weld on the inside much like my own case. Just saying, unfortunately it won't be over until it is over and the results are final. Still wish you the best of luck! Please keep us posted on the process and reults. Still think I will try a rivnut when time and weather permit.