I'm not sure if this is the bes forum, but.....
I knew I was in trouble the second the socket touched the bolt head on the exhaust manifold of my 93 F-250. It wiggled! I could wiggle it with my fingers, but couldn't twist it. One twist with the socket and it came out, part of it anyway. The amount of shiny metal on the broken end indicated that the thread metal was the only thing holding it on to the truck at all.
I have been applying a dose of penetrating oil to it about every time I pass it and plan on first of all trying my Craftsman drill bolt extractor, then if that doesn't work go to drilling and using an easy out. My son seems to think using some heat from his acetylene torch on the head will help. I am a bit leery of that as the last thing I want to do is damage the head.
Anyway, any tips about what or what not to do would be appreciated.

Thanks, Rich

 

If you end up having to drill it out, get a left hand twist drill bit. Alot of times it will grab the bolt and screw it out.

 

A few times I have had to drill everything out but the threads and use a tap on what was left, one time i left it a bit small and tapped it to the next size smaller and that worked very well also, just used a grade 8 since it was smaller and it is still holding after several years, but then I had access with a really long drill bit also or used a right angle as we know how tight the quarters can be with exhaust bolts! Good luck!

 

richlars, i have a simmiliar problem, over the weekend I was removing the stock manifolds of my 78' 250 with a 460 and every bolt came out beautifully except one....typical ..... the head poped off of it and the remainder of the bolt is stuck in the head. I'd say there is about a half inch left of the bolt sticking out. it seems like it is rusted or stuck in there pretty good. I have put terpentine on it and some wd 40 to try and penetrate it but I haven't yet tried to extract it. Not sure exactly what do to do.... i know i have a few options, an easy out, maybe try to turn it with a small pipe wrench but I just know this thing is stuck hard...of any one as has sugestions on how to get it out with out damaging the head, I would really appreciate it, thanks - chris

 

Sears has a busted or rounded head extractor set that is excellent. These have a reverse flute on them and will grab the busted stud and allow you to turn it out. If the bolt is busted off even with the head the old drill and extractor method may be called for. Heat the remains of the bolt red hot, touch a candle to it and then use the sears extractors or the drill easy out. The wax will act as a lubricant and the heat will loosen up just about any rusted bolt. If all else faile take the head to a macjhine shop and pay them to dig it out and install a heli-coil.

 

I broke off 2 exhaust bolts in the head on my 1970 429. Actually 1 of them broke and the other head rounded off so I ground off the head, pulled the manifold and ended up with 2 "studs" sticking out of the head. I used a stud puller (looks like a spark plug socket) on 1 of them but the other required liberal amounts of Kroil and welding a nut on the end to finally get it out.

 

Welding a nut on the remaining part of the bolt is a very good way in that there is 2 benifits first it gives you something to put a wrench on, second it heats it up pretty good, and usually breaks the rust loose I have used this method many times with great success.

 

Even with a bolt broken off flush with the head surface you can still weld a nut to it and get it out. Sometimes it calls for a flat washer and a nut but I try to avoid using the drill/extractor method if at all possible unless I've got the piece on a workbench. Even then I'm not a big extractor fan, just had too many break off and ended up taking it to a machine shop.

 

drain the coolant out of the engine and use a acetylene torch to mildly heat the head/broken bolt..touch with a candle....capillary action will draw wax into threads....wait a min for bolt to cool ...so you dont twist off the bollts red hot steel. Sometimes you have to heat bolt red hot and quick quench to have thermal shock break the threads loose....its a tenuous situation...esp when youre working up a dead goats ***.... in the wheelwell

 

sounds , good i'm gonna weld a bolt on and give that a shot , thanks - chris

 

Bad2ThBone78, Since your bolt is sticking out and one of those Sears extractors will have something to grab on to, I'd try the heat, candle, extractor trick! IMHO!

 

I am glad that somebody finally descibed the candle trick. Unfortunately I had already lost the battle. I tried the right hand drill for a bit, then I went and got some left hand bits. My son used his acetyline torche to heat it up but was about out of gas so it never got red hot. But it was plenty hot for the candle trick had I read this before.
Perhaps I should have waited longer to cool but I drilled and the drill chewed in pretty fast, but no grab. Tried the next size bit, no grab. Use the Craftsman screw/bolt extractor that chewed in even faster but still no grab. But this time I discovered that I wasn't as centered as I thought as was into the threads of the head. Machine shop now has it and will get the other head Monday as he discovered a slight warp in it.
Thanx to all for the attempts to help,
Rich

 

I had 8 out of 16 break on me! Luckly (if you can call it that) I was taking both heads off of the engine anyway. I tried the easyout method on the 1st bolt. I agree with Bill Beyer, screw extractors are not high on my list. The extractor broke off. I had to drill around it with little tiny drill bits until I could get the broken piece of extraxtor out. Then, I drilled and re-tapped the rest of the holes on a drill press. The one I broke the extractor off in had to be helicoiled. good luck!

 

Well, I tried to get the block drain plugs out of my '76 460, probably has never been removed since the day they were put in by Ford. The grip of the 1/4 inch hex driver was no match for whatever held those plugs in, the plug socket rounded out. I had been applying liberal PB Blaster (the best bolt loosener that I know of).

I drilled the centers out to use the tap-like extractor, this let out the coolant. I used a torch to heat-loosen them, and then went to work with the extractor, but gave up in fear of breaking the extractor.

Desperate for success, I used a hammer and chisel to apply some shock-torque to the plugs (I once successfully did this on a stripped differential plug), and got one to loosen and spin counter clock-wise, and then got it out.

Next I may try to hog out the inside of the plug, but I am concerned about ruining the threads in the block. I may try to weld a nut to the plug, but there is not much of the plug sticking out of the block. I guess I could weld a bolt in the drilled-out plug and wrench it out.

I guess that, if I am going to work on old trucks, I had better develop some good bolt/plug extraction techniques. I know for sure that when I put new block drain plugs into that engine, I will not use the standard hex socket heads (I will weld a decent size nut to them if I have to) and I may use teflon tape as an anti-seize.

Good luck to you all,

Andy