Now I've done it...sheared off a bolt

[Blue82]

I threw the power steering belt on the way home Monday and found out last night that I sheared off the lower mounting bracket bolt going nto the block!

Not exactly the most hospitable place to drill out a bolt.ad

 

[silver 80]

you might want to check to see if it is loose. I have found that some bolts that snap off on there own are from vibration, you might get lucky.

 

[DkBG]

Silver 80 is right about that . Usually you can use a hammer and a small punch , tapping near the edge of the bolt , trying to turn it in a counterclockwise direction . Cliff

 

[JonM]

If the above suggestions don't work...you may be able to have a new bolt Heliarced onto the the broken one.

 

[DDLS3]

If all else fails..........buy, borrow, rent a right angle drill motor and buy a left hand twist drill bit. 9 times out of 10 the bolt will come out as your drilling it out.

 

[Wolverine]

The EXACT same thing happened to me last year. After I removed the mounting bracket, I found the threads to be so loose that I was able to unscrew it with no effort at all. That is not a very likely place to have any frozen bolts.

You should easily be able to punch it loose. Good luck.

Brian

 

[nstg8r]

if the other suggestions don't work you could also weld a nut to it, if it's close enough to the surface and just take it out that way, welding like that won't stick to the cast iron.

 

[Blue82]

Thanks all! I was so beside myself that I didn't think of those suggestions. I'll bet the bolt was backing itself out because I rebuilt and installed the motor about 5 months ago so the bolt and hole were recently seperated and cleaned out.

I'm gonna try tapping it out and if that doesn't work I have another bolt attached to it.