El Strippo does it again

[zenwhipper]

Folks- in the process of taking my wheels off to have them powder coated and at the step where I remove the disks from the rims - (wait for it, wait for it....) I stripped a two bolts that connect the disk to the rim. These bolts are shallow headed MoFos! And my allen head wrench rounded off the inside corners to the bolt head. Rather than mess with the issue and since I was going to have a MC dealer remove the bearings and take the tires off anyway - I just threw the rims in the truck and will ask them to take care of the issue of the stripped heads. BUT- will that be a big deal for a properly equiped shop? Or is it like a no brainer? The bolts seem to have a lot of Loctite on them. Can an impact wrench get enough grip to back them out?

Errrrrg!

Thanks

Scott

 

[just roy]

Folks- in the process of taking my wheels off to have them powder coated and at the step where I remove the disks from the rims - (wait for it, wait for it....) I stripped a two bolts that connect the disk to the rim. These bolts are shallow headed MoFos! And my allen head wrench rounded off the inside corners to the bolt head. Rather than mess with the issue and since I was going to have a MC dealer remove the bearings and take the tires off anyway - I just threw the rims in the truck and will ask them to take care of the issue of the stripped heads. BUT- will that be a big deal for a properly equiped shop? Or is it like a no brainer? The bolts seem to have a lot of Loctite on them. Can an impact wrench get enough grip to back them out?
Errrrrg!

Thanks

Scott

make sure it is a good shop if they don't feel confident take it to a good machine shop. make sure they understand if they ruin the rim they are paying to replace it. if they are locktited heat will loosen the locktite or a good allen socket and an impact should do it. with a good socket and impact you can push in really hard as it pounds and usually won't ruin the screw. i can't stress enough how important good allen wrenches are and when they start to show signs of wear replace them. the drive surfaces are very small and with just a few thousandths wear they ruin tight screws.

 

[lonerider]

Folks- in the process of taking my wheels off to have them powder coated and at the step where I remove the disks from the rims - (wait for it, wait for it....) I stripped a two bolts that connect the disk to the rim. These bolts are shallow headed MoFos! And my allen head wrench rounded off the inside corners to the bolt head. Rather than mess with the issue and since I was going to have a MC dealer remove the bearings and take the tires off anyway - I just threw the rims in the truck and will ask them to take care of the issue of the stripped heads. BUT- will that be a big deal for a properly equiped shop? Or is it like a no brainer? The bolts seem to have a lot of Loctite on them. Can an impact wrench get enough grip to back them out?
Errrrrg!

Thanks

Scott

When I've rounded metric socket head bolts, sometimes I've been able to use the next larger size SAE hex driver (allen socket) and tap it into the rounded bolt head deep enough to get it to loosen the bolt. Make sure there's no dirt packed between the head of the bolt and the recess it sits in; that will make it even tighter.

 

[Zorlac]

Maybe Dremel a slot in them, heat them, and have at it with a large flat blade screwdriver?

Heat is the ticket, but the aluminum rim just conducts it away so fast it's hard to get the bolt warmed up enough.

 

[Aasland]

I'm sure the shop can get them out, I doubt they're new to stripped heads ;-)

I've had good luck with left-handed drill bits, but never had to deal with the threadlocker. Be careful with heat - don't want to warp the rotor.

On a different note, did you use a metric allen wrench? Once I stripped a head too, only find the wrench I used (SAE) was almost a perfect fit.

 

[lnewlf]

Pound in the next size up torx-works every time-especially if you use an impact driver..

 

[Mooseonagoose]

I wouldn't worry too much about damage to the bolt, spend your concern on the rim for two reasons. First: rims are spendy to replace. Second: General rule of thumb, NEVER re-use rotor bolts!

 

[flapsup]

See the really excellent write-up in Technical Discussions, FJRBluesman, Apr 24, 2009. He addresses exactly your same prob with pics. I do a link if I knew how, but I don't.