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Broken Bimini Bolt- Extraction


hunter77ah

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Hey Crew,

I was removing my bimini post holders from my g3 tower and one of the heads snapped off when the bolt was approximately 3/4 of the way out.  I am adding the wetsounds bimini relocator bracket.

I tried to turn it with pliers, but it won't budge either way.  Has this happened to anyone or does anyone have any suggestions for removing it?  Really don't want to drill and tap it.  If I apply heat, will it mess up anything?  Trying not to spray it as I don't want to get oil/lubricant/grease all over the vinyl.

TIA.

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I don't think heat would help or at least it would be hard to heat the right part since you want to heat the female part (the tower) to expand the hole. If you heat the screw it will make it harder to extract. I think just a dab of wd, pb or other penetrating oil (let it sit for a few hours) with a good set of vice locks will be your best bet. If it snaps off flush, you'll be forced to use an ez out or equivilant. Depending on how much of the screw is out of the hole, you may want to give it a couple light taps with a hammer.  

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1 minute ago, hunter77ah said:

@StevoI'll post some late tonight. Thanks.

@isellacuras there is probably about 1/4-3/16 of screw left, but I worry about messing up the threads if I tap it with a hammer.  

I've got some external bolt extractors that I use in cases where I don't want to weld a nut to the end of the broken bolt.  You get basically one shot at it with each size.

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I would place painters tape around the area before you go working on it. As suggested, "I" would go straight to the PB blaster or equivalent and vice locks and when that fails, file the face smooth to use an easy out. The Rustoleum truck bed liner has been the closest match I have found for the black on my G3. I spray it in the cap and dab it on with a q tip for the errant Bimini divots that it has seen. Don't use any thread sealant on anything on the tower, especially the tower strut hardware or you will be hating life later. Good luck. Bill

Edited by wdr
sp
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27 minutes ago, wdr said:

I would place painters tape around the area before you go working on it. As suggested, "I" would go straight to the PB blaster or equivalent and vice locks and when that fails, file the face smooth to use an easy out. The Rustoleum truck bed liner has been the closest match I have found for the black on my G3. I spray it in the cap and dab it on with a q tip for the errant Bimini divots that it has seen. Don't use any thread sealant on anything on the tower, especially the tower strut hardware or you will be hating life later. Good luck. Bill

(un)fortunately it is a white tower...

Edited by hunter77ah
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2 minutes ago, wdr said:

I have the dual WS brackets that cover up the old Bimini base location so that space is out of site once installed. I am guessing you are not going that route.

Just the single bracket unfortunately.  I'll post pictures tonight. Technically, the tower spot would be out of sight with the bracket relocator, but I'm trying not to mar the tower too much.

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Don’t let re tapping the hole scare you,

without seeing the broken screw, I’d say start with a small drill bit with a good pilot hole before using the easy out, the easy out blade likes to walk a bit. With the pilot hole , (use some of the liquid wrench or similar) drill in the easy out and then extract.

if you damage the threads it is really simple to re-tap Aluminum, just make sure you get a bottoming tap(flat on the head) and don’t break the tap off in the hole by over tightening 

  • Like 2
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^^^ what he said.
Tapping threads is easy. Especially once you get it started. Just take your time, work it in there, and it'll be a lot easier than you ever imagined. 

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2 hours ago, hunter77ah said:

@StevoI'll post some late tonight. Thanks.

@isellacuras there is probably about 1/4-3/16 of screw left, but I worry about messing up the threads if I tap it with a hammer.  

"Light tap" just enough to free up the threads a bit. 

Edited by isellacuras
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3 minutes ago, Steve B. said:

There's no chance it's reverse threaded?  Just asking.

Steve B.

Nope. Everything is lefty loosey , righty tighty on the G3. Boogered up bolt thread on build install I imagine.

  • Like 2
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Tape the tower, hit it with a release agent, vise grips, run it in a thread or two if possible and twist it out. Repeat until she comes out or breaks off. Worst case, easy out it and re-tap it. It looks like the head broke off of the screw? If so this may be a little bit of a challenge and end up being a easy out job. Good luck. Bill

Edited by wdr
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5 minutes ago, wdr said:

Tape the tower, hit it with a release agent, vise grips, run it in a thread or two if possible and twist it out. Repeat until she comes out or breaks off. Worst case, easy out it and re-tap it. It looks like the head broke off of the screw? If so this may be a little bit of a challenge and end up being a easy out job. Good luck. Bill

The head broke off.  It was getting pretty stuck (both tight and loose directions).  I pushed a little too hard thinking I could muscle it out the last few threads and just popped off the head.  I tried a pair of pliers to see if I could wiggle it and it wouldn't budge.  I'll grab the vise grips and some pb blaster. 

Thanks.

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ahopkins22LSV

Hard to tell, but it looks like it may have been cross-threaded. There is a slight angle between the bolt and the tower. Might just be the picture though. Did it turn at all when you tried to take it out? If no, it probably was cross-threaded and you will probably need to re-tap the hole after you get the bolt out. May get lucky and it just ruined the bolt though.

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+1 on the tape up around it, and the vice grips. There is enough meat on that post to get it going

i don’t think they use a thread locker but you could grab the wife’s hair dryer and warm it up as it could help soften any adhesive in there without damaging the tower.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bought a bigger and better set of vice grips this weekend- worked perfectly!  Any idea what would cause this strange damage to the threads?

uc?export=download&id=0B5kgWgVuqpLaRm4wa

 

Edited by hunter77ah
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2 minutes ago, Stevo said:

Dissimilar metals, that steel bolt and aluminum tower, the bolt will cross thread easily if forced and chances are it was over torqued into place

Yep.  I don't know why they don't put Helicoils (or similar) in at the factory right away.  So easy to mess up Aluminum threads.  I've got Helicoils in 4 rack attachment holes now and they're great.  On and off several times with no problems at all.

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