HELP! Broke body bolt

[MSFTMatt]

I have got to find a time machine. Soooooo many things I'd go back and do over. Anyone who says they have no regrets in life I call BS!!

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[Wolf Island Diver]

I watched the video from north ridge a dozen times and read thru all the pages of threads. I used heat. In hindsight I should have stopped after 1 but I figured it was a fluke. Pretty bummed to saw the least

Yeah, I really don’t like the torch. It’s one of those, use the tool you have, things. It’s easy to heat up the rubber body mount itself with that, which I really don’t like, and that causes people to be too gun shy with it trying to prevent damage to everything else. The induction method directly heats the bolt and everything radiates out from there. If your mount is smoking, the bolt is surely red hot, which you don’t need. I turned the bolt without heat until I felt resistance, then heated and tested the resistance and started turning. I never used any back and forth method. I reapplied heat back and forth with my wrench. I used a standard 1/2 drive driver. I wanted to feel the resistance with as little separation as possible. With breaker bars you almost have too much torque. Mine felt like syrupy resistance, not hard, wall like resistance.

Going back and forth honestly seems like a good way to break things. I think a properly heated bolt with slow steady force is the better way. Once heated I never felt like I hit a wall. If I did, I would have stopped. The problem with going back and forth, is that if the bolt has encountered something, like bad threads or its binding, going back and forth against that section can be like bending a piece of metal back and forth until it breaks. You’ve got to know why it’s hit sudden resistance. In this case it’s usually but not always the loctite. In my case only half the bolts had it. I had several with already broken retention clips and another broke while turning out and pieces of metal fell out on the ground. That bolt went back in without issue.

 

[MSFTMatt]

I just ordered an induction heater of Jeff's megasite and it will arrive tomorrow. I'll use that for the other 4 bolts, if I can get up the nerve to dive back into this project.

 

[THE SANDALORIAN]

I just ordered an induction heater of Jeff's megasite and it will arrive tomorrow. I'll use that for the other 4 bolts, if I can get up the nerve to dive back into this project.

Keep us updated. I still think I want to go this route.

 

[MSFTMatt]

Absolutely will update this thread

 

[Camaroboi13]

Just think, you’re only a couple more broken bolts away from just lifting the cab off the frame and getting them out from the top! lol

 

[MSFTMatt]

Now thats a glass half full kinda attitude!!

 

[Cspence]

Mine were a pain to install as well, counting my blessings. I did as you did with a huge breaker bar and a few times the sounds it made me very nervous it was going to snap. My rear passenger bolt, it sounded like the nut in the frame broke a spot weld or something. Fortunately I was able to reinstall the bolt and get it tightened.

Sorry to hear about this, what a PITA!

 

[MSFTMatt]

I've got a guy with an auto shop that's going to extract the bolts for me Monday morning so that's good. I ordered a coil induction heater. Any tips on how to use it or use it effectively? I've never used one before and want to make this process a hell of a lot better and easier than what I've encountered so far.

 

[Rockabillyroy]

I read all the reviews with the snapped bolts and went with a torch. I would have chosen to go with the inductor if I had one on hand.

Same as OP. Heat up, small 18" breaker bar to limit torque. Small turns. Then more heat. Back and forth. Then when it was going better, more heat and the large breaker bar.

Couple times it make some sounds that made me think it had made a mistake. But in the end, I got this nifty collection of oversized bolts. LoL

 

[Idlethunder]

Yeah, I really don’t like the torch. It’s one of those, use the tool you have, things. It’s easy to heat up the rubber body mount itself with that, which I really don’t like, and that causes people to be too gun shy with it trying to prevent damage to everything else. The induction method directly heats the bolt and everything radiates out from there. If your mount is smoking, the bolt is surely red hot, which you don’t need. I turned the bolt without heat until I felt resistance, then heated and tested the resistance and started turning. I never used any back and forth method. I reapplied heat back and forth with my wrench. I used a standard 1/2 drive driver. I wanted to feel the resistance with as little separation as possible. With breaker bars you almost have too much torque. Mine felt like syrupy resistance, not hard, wall like resistance.

Going back and forth honestly seems like a good way to break things. I think a properly heated bolt with slow steady force is the better way. Once heated I never felt like I hit a wall. If I did, I would have stopped. The problem with going back and forth, is that if the bolt has encountered something, like bad threads or its binding, going back and forth against that section can be like bending a piece of metal back and forth until it breaks. You’ve got to know why it’s hit sudden resistance. In this case it’s usually but not always the loctite. In my case only half the bolts had it. I had several with already broken retention clips and another broke while turning out and pieces of metal fell out on the ground. That bolt went back in without issue.

That's how I did mine too. Heated it up and turned with 12” breaker bar until I felt resistance then heated again and repeat. I never went back and forth with the bolts, just heat and steady pressure on the bar. There were a couple of times the bolts had turned easily enough before getting snug again that I considered going ahead without reheating but the horror stories kept me from it. It took longer than it should have but no broken bolts so I don’t regret going slowly.

 

[Rusty PW]

Broken bolt = shit show. I feel for you. I just had to cut out 2 frozen bolts in my lower rear control arms on the axle. 2 bolts = 8 hrs of pain.

 

[whiteglad]

I have installed Rock Hard sliders on two Gladiators. I used a breaker bar, no heat, no back and forth. Both went OK. Looking at the video referenced above, there are a lot of threads above the factory nut. I would weld a nut on the end of the broken bolt and while hot, use a ratchet with socket to turn it upwards and remove the stub. Then you have a fairly small hole to cover with a rubber round plug, etc. Buy grade 12.9 allen bolts as replacements, as I did, and install with grease on the threads.

 

[MSFTMatt]

I think I'll end up going that route if my guy cannot extract the bolts or he says it's too risky to try.

 

[AmishMike]

For the price of the induction heater, you could just pay the shop to pull all the bolts, clean the Loctite off and reinstall or even install the sliders.

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