Yanmar Tractor Tips

Yanmar Tractor Tips
Broken bolts.

Everybody has done it at sometime or another. Think that a bolt is tight but put a little more into it just to make sure and...snap. Your bolt broke off in the hole. Now what? Fortunately, if your bolt broke off when you were tightening it, it most likely got hard because the head binding on the surface and not because the threads are bad. This is a lot easier to get out because once the head ois broken off the tension is usuall off the threads and they can just be screwed back out.

The first thing to try is to simply get vice grips and back out the bolt. If there is not enough sticking out to clamp on you might have to get a small chisel and tap the remaining threads in a counter-clockwise direction. If these ideas don't work, or your bolt was broken off as you were loosening it or because the bolt was too long and the threads bottomed out you might need to get a little more creative. You can buy left handed drill bits that are great for drilling out broken bolts. Just be careful not to damage the threds in the hole. If that doesn't work and you own a welder you might need to find a nut the same size as the bolt and weld it to the remaining threads. Let it cool completely and carefuly try and remove it. Good luck.

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