Broken shock bolts

[woodsparrow_imp]

Was swapping shocks, torque wrench is apparently broken. Snapped both of the top bolts to mount the shocks in side the threads.

On a scale of 1 to sell the bike, how screwed am I?

I've been doing mechanical work for 15 years and haven't EVER snapped a bolt inside threads before. Because I'm careful. So I'm furious right now. Going to have to go to home depo and get some extractor and a tap/die set to fix the threads.

Also noticed that apparently the speedo housing is cracked, from the previous owner taking a spill.

I'm doing a lot of fixing his brokens.

 

[the Ferret]

Those little 6 mm bolts at the top of the shocks won't take much torque. From what I remember reading you are not the first to break one or more of those.

 

[woodsparrow_imp]

Anyone been able to use an extractor? Or am I looking at having to drill the entire hole out and tap it with a bigger one?

 

[Lord Popgun]

There is a thread on here about this. Like Ferret said, the torque is not much. About all the bolts do is keep the shock on. There is no real force on them. IIRC, the member drilled and extracted them. I'll have to search for it.

And here it is: Rear Shock Bolt Head Snapped

He used an extractor.

 

[Retsel_imp]

I've be bought and tried several extractors with mixed results. More success with larger bolts. 6 mm is on the small side but, if you can get a decent, well centered, hole drilled in it you may be okay. Best of luck!

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[woodsparrow_imp]

Thanks Pop.

Looks like the included torque speqs for the shock were simply way higher than the 6 foot-pounds required. I new it wasn't holding anything on, but wanted to do it 'right' so...follow the torque spec.

Which works as long as you have the right torque spec.

 

[Retsel_imp]

Wood, I remembered a craftsman's set that did the trick for me last time. I went and found it and took a photo,


[url=http://s1168.photobucket.com/user/lester9/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20170506_172610_001_zps3c9nuiid.jpg.html]

It includes the drill bit and the extractor in one piece. The smallest is for 6mm. You drill in, with the extractor backed off, and once deep enough you start turning in the extractor with a wrench. It is all done counter clockwise so when it bottems out it starts turning the bold via wrenching the extractor. Again, best of luck!


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[bruceb63_imp]

Anyone been able to use an extractor? Or am I looking at having to drill the entire hole out and tap it with a bigger one?

I would 1st try a reverse drill bit. It should spin it out.

 

[chync_imp]

I have had to extract one of those. I used the cheap reverse drill bit type mentioned above. I just drilled a very small hole in the broken bolt for the extractor to bite into. It came out easy. Once the head is broken off there really is no tension holding it in.

 

[gtmn_imp]

yup so brittle probably not stuck try a pic and see if it will just turn out

 

[woodsparrow_imp]

I spent 2 hours working and fiddling with a reverse drill bit, extractor, type thing.

I finally said it could, expletive expletive expletive itself, and have drilled the entire thing out. I'll go back with a proper tap and die and resize the hole. Probably just use a #8 metric, since I don't think I'll be able to re-tap the #6 on both sides.

This is been a fairly crap week for me all around.

 

[Razor]

I'm feel'n your pain :exclamation:
More times than I care to remember I've run into a similar situation.

Since we've drilled already; might be able to go with an 8mm to 6mm threaded bushing.

Some other options in order of preference (IMHO)
- Time Sert. Not cheap, slick solution
- Heli-coil. A little cheaper, not as HD as the Time Sert
- Last resort, drill and weld in bushing, primer & paint.

Good luck.

 

[woodsparrow_imp]

Drill bit broke off in the hole while I was reaming it.

I'm pretty much done with this bike. Every time I touch it I find something else broken, rusted, needing replacement or repairs. And that's not even counting the stuff I break.

Even called up a dealership to see if they'd deal with this BS and they flat out said no, that I'd have to find a 'laser extraction' shop.

 

[Cormanus]

You are having a bum run woodsparrow.

 

[woodsparrow_imp]

You are having a bum run woodsparrow.

I ended up limping it into a dealership, and the cost to repair what I broke, combined with the upcoming maintenance and new tires, was more than the trade in value of the bike. They had a CB500X on sale for 4k flat, and offered me 3k for the bike as-is.

I took that deal. Not incredibly proud but I've got a bike that I haven't broken.

 

[aschem_imp]

Sometimes it is just a relief to git rid of a bike than deal with repairs. I'll take the front valves. I'll PM you.