Okay here is my dilemma.
I have a broken bumper mounting bolt. i.e. the bracket on the rear end of a beetle that holds the bumper.

So i can only get to one side of it as the mount is welded to the body of the car. No drama I hear you say. Use an Easy Out. Did that.

Drilled the hole through and then put the easy out in. Usually works. Then snap. Clean break. the easy out is now stuck in the middle of the drilled bolt.

I tried to drill it out but it is hardened steel. Almost impossible to drill.

All ideas and suggestions welcome.

Not keen on cutting bracket and almost impossible to weld something to the bolt given its size.

Please help.

Bugger!!!!! I've done just that very thing. You could try heating the Easy-out to red-hot, using the oxy. A small tip, about 8 to10 should do, and hold the flame cone as close as possible to the remains of the Easy-out. When it cools it should be annealed enough to drill out, and re-tap.........Good luck.

Cheers, Greg

Ye, go and get yourself a carbide drill, $10 - $15 will get you one, then use some oil and dont let it get hot. Then when you get the eziout out keep drilling it out until the bolts gone and then re thread it the next size up

nope its ANGLE GRINDER time cut the section out and replace it with similar and weld in

I have done the same the bolts freeze in and always snap off
a zillion years of rust n water makes eum that way

Hi, the first thing that you do is put the easy outs in the bin, these things only spread the broken bolt that you are trying to remove, Happydazes is right, heat the broken easyout until it is cherry red, this will soften it and if you are lucky you can drill it out, i just drilled out two grade 12.9 steel cap screws that were broken off in a very expensive junction box on board the vessel were i work, mark out the centre of the bolt perfectly, then core drill it starting with a small drill, increase the drill size as you go until you reach the root diameter of the thread, then you can unwind what is left of it, keeping in mind that you must be on centre all the time

the easyout was probally MADE IN CHINA

Ah well, at least that should make it easier to drill out!

shifters and easy outs dont mix, if you can get to the end of the easy out use a thin stainless cutting disc in your grinder to cut a slot across the centre of the easy out, use this slot to put your screw driver into and back the easy out in a clockwise direction.
hope this helps

better quality easy out, impact driver, penetrene/inox/wd40, super thin cutting wheel to slot it, and... nup one of those has always worked for me, worst case scenario drill it out in steps & re-tap, pretty sure its all been covered in previous posts though


on a side note, dont we all LOVE stuffed bolts screws etc!

And if it's all f###ed up, cut out the welded in nut very neatly and weld in another, you can even make a new nut insert from 1/4" or 6mm plate if you need a bigger hole filled, drill & tap to M8 x 1.25, weld it in and your away.

I would not blame Chinese easy out, even the best brand would do the same on solidly rusted in bolt..
The only way to beat it is use of top penetrant, which is this one...and it takes a day or two to break the rust enough to remove broken bolt

If you have a welder, you can put a nut over the bolt and fill the centre of the nut with weld so it welds to the old bolt (and broken easyout). The heat will free up the rust and you can put a spanner on the nut and turn it.

Did this recently with a snapped off clutch plate bolt and it worked a treat.

Cheers

Steve

On a related note, does anyone know where to buy Left Handed cobalt drills in Aust.? available in US