Okay, first of all, NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances, tell someone "Oh, yeah, I'll be done in about an hour...." when fixing something on your truck. I did that..... 5 weeks ago!!! Had to swap out a leaking water pump on the 4X4, and broke a new bolt (too long and the holes are blind... d'oh!!) in the driver's side bottom hole. Tried a spiral extractor (I would not suggest ever using these devices... the fluted, ductile-iron ones are much better), tried welding a nut onto what was left, but it was too weak (the bolt, not the weld) and broke off. So I got a professional involved. Turns out, since the block is cast iron, you can use a oxy-acetylen torch to literally burn/blast/melt the bolt out of the hole. It is not a trick for the un-skilled, but apparently, the cast iron threads are not hurt by the torch if done right. Once the bolt is out (expect to do some drilling for the last bits, and chase the threads with the right sized tap), it's good to go.

Perhaps this is common knowledge to the rest of the serious folk here, but I thought it was pretty cool. I always get spooked when torches are involved, so I let the pro do it. And this guy has his whole setup mobil, so he came to my house, where my partially dismantled truck is in the driveway. Guess we'll see if it worked as he planned, or if he'll have to heli-coil it. I suspect this was a problem before, as one of the four bolts was different than the others, and this hole looks like it has been messed with before I screwed it up.

If this helps even one person, I won't feel like a total boob for posting it.

Matt

 

roger that i have blasted bolts out myself......dont worry if he does a heli coil it will probly be stronger than before its a permanant fix he can also use whats called a keencert its very strong. I use these all day long on aircraft motors pushing tens of thousands of pounds of thrust.