Broke easy-out????

Trying to remove a broken bolt. Drilled hole into bolt shaft and installed easy-out. Started twisting easy-out in reverse dirction and it broke off flush with bolt stem.

Tried to drill a hole in easy-out with no success. What is a good type of drill bit to use to drill hole in easy-out?...or any other suggestions????

Thanks

You ain't gonna like it, but you ain't gonna drill that easy out out unless you have a diamond bit, which I seriously doubt. Next idea is to center a nut on it and fill the hole with weld. Wait until it cools and try it again. Or get a new whatver it is you're working on.

What Don said. The heat from the welding will practically launch the bolt outta there when you put a wrench to it.

Lesson #1: Don't use Easyout if the bolt is frozen.
Lesson #2: If the bolt is flush, weld a washer to the end, then weld a nut to the washer. Tighten slightly, then loosen, continue tight, loose till it comes out. Use penetrating oil of some kind, tapping with a hammer.

can not drill an easy out...too hard. Maybe you can heat it red hot with an acetylene torch and let it cool and it might remove the temper, then you might be able to drill it. Another possibility is to break the easy out into pieces with a hard punch and a hammer, dangerous procedure because any pieces you break off will fly somewhere . so wear good eye protection face shield is the best. If you have a welder you might be able to weld a nut onto the remaining part of the bolt, and easy out and turn it out. The other possibility is to throw the device with the broken easy out in it away and buy a new one.
Good luck. might be better to throw the rest of the easy outs away and get some left hand drills.

The sheared bolt is on the rear end of a Ford 860 that holds the hitch plate.

Thanks

weld a washer on it. let it cool some; then weld a nut on the washer; usually come rite out!

There are the cheap brake if you use them easy outs and then there are the you pay for them but they work easy outs. I am guessing you used one of those cheap about 2 or 3 inch long hard ware store easy outs. FORGET them if you want an easy out that works your going to pay a $100 for a good set of them or do not try easy as that I know I got the good set and have had them for over a decade and yep payed %75 for them over 10 years ago and have only broke one out of the whole set and it was a very small one

You have just joined a not very exclusive club, that is guys who now know that "easy outs" are not going to get out broken blots and studs! They actually expand the broken bolt, wedging it only tighter, and are worthless in my opinion.
Now that you are in the club, you can follow the advice of using a welder to attach a washer, then a nut and turn the whole mess out. That may not work as well as if you'd done it first because the broken piece had been weakened by drilliung for the easy out. Unless you bought some really cheap easy outs, they are made of high speed steel and aren't easily softened by heating with a torch. They will still be hard enough to be difficult to drill. Don't even think about drilling with a hand drill. You will need a carbide drill bit to cut the easy out and you can't hold one steady enough to avoid breaking it. To use a carbide bit successfully you need a part clamped down in a heavy drill press or milling machine. Your other option is to remove the part and take it to amachine shop that has EDM. They can burn out the broken easy out without damage to the part. It may be cheaper to replace whatever it is that has the broken bolt. I don't want to be pessimistic, but I have seen more damage done with so-called easy-outs than you can imagine. They have a place, but it is very limited. Just been my experience over 45 years so take it for what it is.

Easy outs work if you can't quite turn the broken bolt out with your fingers. What people fail to take into consideration is what broke the bolt. If it broke while trying to take it out you know an easy out won't work. If it got sheared off, maybe an easy out will do the job. If it broke from over torquing and it did not bottom out a easy out may take it out. That doesn't help you of course but thought I would throw it out there. Get out the welder.

It is hard so you are not going to drill it out with any common drills. You say it is in a housing on a Ford rearend. Take a cutting torch and blow the easy out out of the hole. ( not the King's english there LOL) If you don't use too much heat you can get it done and not damage the hole. With some luck and skill you can blow the broken bolt out too. You will get some of it out than take a small punch and work on getting the reat out.

I have made special chisels out of pin punches. That way they are long and skinny to get in to the hole. Plus have a half round back on them.

If you have to drill eveything out I have repaired many hitch attaching bolt holes with heavy Heli-Coils.

Like the name says. They are to be used only if the bolt will come out easy.

For what it is worth, I once drilled a series of small holes around the easy out to release it.

The way that one worked out it hollowed out the bolt enough that I was able to get it out also. It was a 3/8 bolt and that dictated the drill size.

RT

Easy outs are worthless IMO.
Use the welding method as suggested below.
If you are a good welder the stud and easy out will come out together.

I've got them out (the backwards spiral ones) by heating them red with a torch then using a punch and backing them out..... Not a fun or gauranteed job tho....

I "discovered" by accident one day in a last ditch effort before stripping hummer down to take it and have the bolt remover or head replaced a fast and effective way of removing bolts and broken extractors (if there is a little bolt left around them) from a big chunk of cast...

Using a cutting torch to heat the bolt/broken extractor up red, it (the bolt)started to melt. Moving the torch back a little, I accidentally bumped the air lever. Sparks flew and I thought I screwed sumpin up.... Looked real close at the head around the hole and there was no damage except some of the bolt was gone and I didn't see the extractor... Decided to try again and found my special purpose for the next 2 years I was assigned there.....
I found that, if I got them hot enough to melt real fast, I could blow the bolt out without hurting the cast. Just had to run a tap in afterwards and clean the threads... I had a real high success rate... Had to drill/retap and use a bigger bolt a couple of times, but no more stripping vehicles and replacing heads for a broken mount bolt...

Common sense applies and so you gotta use it when it comes to safety and not damaging your equipment, but I could see it working in your case pretty slick...

BTW... If you have the backward spiral easyouts, throw them away (or give em to someone you dont like) and get a set of the splined tap in ones.....

Good luck...

Dave

I've used carbide drill bits to drill out an easy-out. The trouble is they are hard to find and expensive. Then since the bolt is so much softer than the easy-out the bit wants to walk off to the side. It's kind of like drilling a steel bolt out of wood. I believe I like TomNe's solution better. Weld a washer on the bolt and then a nut.

As JD seller and Dave2 have said, just blow the remains of the bolt out with flame wrench, and EZ out drops out. For future reference, throw away the EZ outs and get extractors. They have STRAIGHT edges with square cross section. Also get left handed drill bits to drill the hole for the extractor. They will break the bond of some of the rust as you drill the hole.

I repaired a neighbor's zero turn, it had a bolt broken off in the crankshaft. He had broken a easy out in it, before he called me. I tried to punch it out, then ground it out with a small die grinder. I then drilled it out, and retapped. It was a 5/8 bolt, it now is a 7/8, grade 8. I am pretty confident that the shaft will break before the bolt will. It has held up to 2 seasons of mowing.

get the cutting torch out :wink:

Forget the extractors too. I have one of those snapped off in a deck mounting hole in my Cub.

Anything that claims it will twist the bolt out, will snap off and leave you with a mess that you can't drill.

Weld on a nut if there's any bolt protruding above the surface. Otherwise, drilling is your only option.

I found out the hard way on a snowmobile cylinder where the stud broke off, then an easy out broke off, with the alluminum cylinder being much softer, I made a mess, the drill went everywhere but in the center, a 12mm hole ended up being tapped to 14mm. The next time this happened (I should have learned my lesson), but this time I took the cylinder to a neighbors machine shop, he put it in the milling machine, clamped it down, centered it and the endmill removed everything perfect. Only a light tap thru it and it was back to new. Of course this only works on small removable parts and a machine shop who is a neighbor and swaps his work for work on his equiptment.

Along with all the other suggestions about welding a nut to the broken bolt, hold a candle against it as it cools- the wax melts and runs between the threads and loosens the bolt. Just recently got a stuck spark plug out using just engine heat and wax. Done it many times on manifold bolts, using a torch for heat.