I was trying to remove a stubborn torx bolt that attaches the rear driver's side seat belt to the floor pan out of a crew cab. It's stripped to the point where no matter what size torx bit I try to put in there, they spin . I was thinking of drilling it out, but I don't know how that's going to turn out since there's only one shot at getting it right. The bolt hole for this is specific for the seat belt and if I screw it up, I'm worried I won't have a seat belt to use for that seat.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Drake

 

can you get some heat on it and maybe a set of vise grips. I have gotten some very very stubborn bolts off with heat and vise grips

 

Can you get a pair of Vice grips on it ?

 

I was using heat when it stripped. And I've tried vise grips and they will not 'bite' on the head of the torx bolt. There's not much there to grab onto.

 

Have you tried hitting it with a hammer to shock the threads? Can you grind 2 flat sides on it to get a better grip?

 

I did try to smack it with a hammer with no success. I will try drilling 2 flat sides for grip tomorrow. I sure hope that will work.

When I try to heat this up, I'm using a heat gun that goes up to 1,100* and heating the steel 'donut' that the torx bolt screws down into as well as the bolt from underneath the truck.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks,
Drake

 

you need to use a torch, heat gun is not going to get even close to hot enough. Any type of plumbers torch will work, propane...mapp gas anything.

 

Can u get a small pipe wrench on it ?

 

absolute worst case you can drill it out and re-tap the hole a little bigger.

 

With stubborn, rounded off bolts, I have had good luck with tapping the head in a counterclockwise direction with a hammer and steel chisel. Make sure your strikes are aimed for maximum turning force. You can generate quite a bit of torque, and the shocks help to loosen the fastener.

 

Is it best to do this in conjunction with heating up the bolt too or not?

 

I didn't use any heat. This technique has worked well for me.

 

An air hammer with a chisel bit works great for doing that. Matter of fact, my coworker and I did that yesterday to remove some rusted nuts on a trailer air brake chamber.

 

last ones that I did >>wet the floor with water hose and wrap a wet rag around bolt head,then welded a nut to the top with mig

 

With the right resources, there are many options.