Sheared bolt ideas please!

[ronsurf]

Use a left handed cobalt drill. If it's corroded in, it will be very difficult to undo.

Go in increasing sizes, but find a way to make sure you start in the centre. A pillar drill is best for these, but a bolt with a hole in it works well if you have any threads spare (I'm thinking at the other end).
Factor in your time and experience, and consider taking it to a workshop (vehicle restorers are good) where the WILL extract it WITHOUT damaging it.

 

[Jim@sea]

I have been overhauling a late '90s Mercury 3.3 2-stroke outboard and as you might imagine, a lot of those pesky M6 stainless bolts are screwed directly into the aluminium castings. Two in the steering collar have sheared. They are stuck so fast that I have broken off a bolt extractor in them both. Final solution is to drill out, but I now have a very hard thing right where I want to drill. Will anything drill though a bolt extractor? I would have thought that it is as hard or harder than a drill. Replacing the casting would cost more than the motor is worth, at Mercury prices. Any suggestions or ideas please?

With respect, is it really worth messing about with a 30 year old outboard. I appreciate that when they are running they are a light 2 stroke which cannot be replaced like for like. Surely the moment the bolt sheared it became a game changer. Perhaps you could find another one on eBay "sold as spares" and make 1 good one out of two.

 

[RichardS]

With respect, is it really worth messing about with a 30 year old outboard. I appreciate that when they are running they are a light 2 stroke which cannot be replaced like for like. Surely the moment the bolt sheared it became a game changer. Perhaps you could find another one on eBay "sold as spares" and make 1 good one out of two.

Errrrrr .... it's fixed.

Richard

 

[salar]

With respect, is it really worth messing about with a 30 year old outboard. I appreciate that when they are running they are a light 2 stroke which cannot be replaced like for like. Surely the moment the bolt sheared it became a game changer. Perhaps you could find another one on eBay "sold as spares" and make 1 good one out of two.

I think you may be on the wrong forum. This one is Practical Boat Owner. The one you are looking for is “Chuck it and buy and new one”. I may not be as young as the people whose mantra is “Reduce, reuse, recycle” but it’s not a bad one . I add “repair” because most of them don’t know that word ??

 

[rogerthebodger]

I agree with the repair. I can still remember my mother darning my socks using a darning mushroom and knitting jumpers.

Seems they are still available from Amazon.

 

[alahol2]

I agree with the repair. I can still remember my mother darning my socks using a darning mushroom and knitting jumpers.

Seems they are still available from Amazon.

Show that to a young woman these days and I guarantee the last thing she'll think of is darning socks...

 

[salar]

I used a Dremel to remove a snapped stud. I think the bit I used was carbide tipped. It took quite a while, but was very successful in the end. I liked using the Dremel as it is small and easy to move around. I eventually had all the metal inside of the bolt removed, and the threaded outer metal came out in a long helix! Must have taken 2 hours of slowly whittling away, but I could see it was working and I'd get there in the end!

I had another sheared bolt on a less conspicuous bracket which I had planned to drill out - and snapped a drill in that too. Your Dremel + Lidl diamond burr worked a treat. Thanks for the tip!