Help! Stripped battery bolt head

[sothpaw]

In replacing my dead storage battery with a new AC delco unit,
the first instruction is "remove the negative cable from the battery..."

The bolt head is stripped! I have tried to budge it, with no
success. It seems like it was either very over-torqued or is
corroded in place. My efforts have only made the head worse.
It is now almost completely round instead of 6 sided hex head.

What can I do with this? Is there a way I can remove the
positive terminal, get some room to work, and remove the
whole negative battery cable?

Or do I have to drill into the bolt somehow and remove it?
It seems like this won't work, as the original head wan't strong
enough to overcome the torque either....

Andy

 

[Wegone]

Take a pair of vice grips to it..Than go by an auto parts store and get a new bolt, they sell them in a kit.

 

[sothpaw]

tried that

The bolt head is so rounded and requires so much torque to move, that the grips couldn't turn the bolt.

 

[JonM]

Just unbolt the other end...I haven't been under a 93, but just follow the cable and unbolt it...should be connected to the bell housing or the block.

 

[vigman]

Use the vice grips..

On the SHOULDER of the bolt ( below the 6mm head) you can get a good grab on that.

Vig~

 

[sothpaw]

shoulder?

I just remember a Hex head which seems to be on top of a
round washer like thing. There's nothing flat that I an see
to grab.

Vig,
Does the neg cable go to the block? It's so crowded in this
area, I haven't seen where the cable goes...

Does anyone know what size this bolt is? I should be able
to replace it at any auto parts place?

 

[Interceptor430]

I'm with Vig! Try the ViceGrips....or, maybe if you have a side grinder, or a file, just take a tad off 2 sides of the 'round', then the vice grips will have a couple flat surfaces to hold onto.



Also, Craftsman sells a set of socket looking tools that can help with problems like this....It looks like an impact socket from the outside, but the inside has 'teeth' that hold on to the bolt head
in reverse, so you take a hammer and drive this socket over the
bolt head, and it attaches itself...then just attach a rachet, breaker bar, or even an impact wrench (I did this to remove the locks on my wheels (no lock key was with the car)) and turn it in a clockwise motion.....walla! It will come off.....no other damage
is done.....
The full set at Sears was priced for $60......with all the old cars
I deal with/restore, I was glad to add these to my tool set.

 

[sothpaw]

Interceptor,

I like the craftsman idea. Maybe some place will rent me that
tool. I do have a file, but it seems like a lot of effort to file
head so that I have flats again.

This thing is really in tight, or else I would have been able
to get it off with a socket. The socket grabbed to certain torque,
but then the bolt head gave at the corners. And so it became
rounder...

 

[Interceptor430]

Well I'm not aware of anybody that rents that tool.
A little labor and a large dose of determination and you'll get
that thing unscrewed....it wouldn't take long to file a flat spot or two on there just to give the vise grips a better area to grip.
You can do it......and you'll feel so good once you do!
It'll be just a few minutes from til you are :dance :cool

 

[cscarlson]

I have had problems like this before and i bought the "gator grip "socket and it did the jb.

 

[sothpaw]

gator grip

Are both of you talking about a Sears craftsman tool?
Is that what it's called?

I'll try filing, but if that goes south, I'll buy this tool.

Thanks for your help!

 

[cscarlson]

It's a socket that you can buy on tv and in the stores.... target and usually there are " as seen on tv" stores in the mall that has the socket

 

[sothpaw]

clockwise

Interceptor,

BTW, you mean Counter clockwise don't you? Wouldn't you
be turning the breaker-bar cc to get the bolt off?

 

[Interceptor430]

:duh :duh
left off that little 'counter' word there didn't I!!!!

sorry bout dat!

 

[DkBG]

Pushing down a little on the cable while trying to break the bolt loose might help just enough . Cliff

 

[rrubel]

Sothpaw, I actually have some of those 'stripped bolt' removal sockets from Sears... Christmas present from your folks! If you haven't gotten it taken care of this weekend I'll see if I can stop by (or if you can get the Vette jumped drive down here) and we can take care of it.
[RICHR]

 

[Eagle85C4]

Also try spraying the bolt with PB Blaster and wait a few...go grab a cold one...then try it again, I feel relativly sure it will break loose. The stuff is what miricles are made of...

 

[Interceptor430]

I looked at my 'stripped bolt' socket set last eve.....doesn't look like there's one small enough for this problem....
One other thing that could work/I might try, is to use a Dremel.
Use a cut-off wheel, and cut a slot in the head of that stripped
area. Yep...just cut a nice deep slot into it - making yourself a
slot wide/deep enough to then insert a common screwdriver in there and get it off.

 

[sothpaw]

Thank you all

Thank you all so much,

The 'vette is back for Spring! Interceptor's idea of a craftsmen
tool was right on!

I thought it'd be worth my time to check that out before filing
away at it or dremeling a slot. They had a socket set for
$18 (on sale!) which had one socket just small enough for the
8mm head.

This "socket" dug in without hammering it on there, I just hand
turned it and pushed while holding the battery. When it felt like
it had some what of a hold, I hooked up the socket wrench to
the tool.

It still took an incredible amount of torque to turn, but I'm not
that muscular. There's no way a slot or flats for the vise grips
would have provided enough grip to torque this thing out.

I can't even get the tool off the bolt now, they are one unit
and I will later try hammering them apart.

I highly recommend the craftsman sockets. It's not worth your
time to do this any other way.

 

[sothpaw]

I also forgot to mentione why that bolt was so siezed--it
was a lot of corrosion in the negative terminal, as I suspected.
Had it not died in the garage, I would have had to toe it unless
I knew about these craftsman sockets ahead of time.

Also, even my mechanic did not know about the craftsman
sockets as an alternative. They must be new.

I, of course, took the car out after all this even though it was late and my wife didn't like the idea (I could just tell without words).

It was mandatory.

Today is sunny and I drove someone into the airport in the vette
and then to work.