Stripped allen head bolt on Husky 51

[FSburt]

Hi all anybody got any ideas how to loosen up a stripped allen head bolt that holds the cylinder to the saw. It is the right one on the muffler side that is stripped. I got the rest of them broke loose ok but there is always one that ends up being a #@%$^. I think I might be able to work with this saw if I can get this bolt loose. Like I said in my earlier post the exhaust side of the piston is scored but not to bad so i am going the try what Rupedoggy suggested and see how it works. I can see why this poor saw blew it was caked with saw dust and gunk all over and especially on the cylinder fins which were clogged completely on at least 1/2 the cylinder. Intake side looked clean with no damage. Is it possible to put a double ringed piston back in this saw instead of the stock single ring. Thanks for the advice. I need to heed my bosses advice about "Haste making waste".

 

[HomeDelight Man]

Hello there, I have a few suggestions.
1) Dig all the crap out of the bolt head with a pick or scratch all. 2) Make sure your wrench is the correct size. 3) Make sure the wrench is sharp not rounded over on the end. Good Luck, Jonathan

 

[Walt Galer]

Howdy,

This happen quite frequently. Hopefully you gave up before you totally rounded it out!. The previous advice about really cleanning out the bolt head is where you begin. Put some care into and make sure it is absolutely free of crap built up in the bottom of the recess. Then blow it out with an airgun. Next you take your allen 'T'wrench to the bench grinder and grind of any trace of worn end, making the end as near dead square as you can. Hopefully this will find enough nice remaining material to get a good hold. If you can get to it, a micro torch heating of the bolt head will melt the locktite on the threads making it a whole bunch easier to loosen. You want to make sure you get it the first try. If this one slips, you are propably in deep do-do unless you can get in there with a good carbide drill, and drill the head clear off. Not apt to happen. Sometimes you can disassemble the saw from around the cylinder enough to get in there with a needlenose vise grip, but the bolt is usually too hard to break loose this way without first heating to above 200F all the way down the bolt threads.

Good luck

Regards,
Walt Galer

 

[WOLF_RIVER_MIKE]

easyout

pour oil into it and let it set awhile. Then drill a pilot hole down thru the bolt. Screw in an easyout and go on with it. Good Lucck.

 

[mbopp]

Don't know how tight of a space you're in, but I've used a Dremel tool, muffler cutoff tool, and/or angle grinder to cut bolt heads off. Allen head bolts are *real* hard metal. Good luck.

Mike

 

[sedanman]

I have had good luck with valve grinding compound. A small tube rom the local auto-parts store is a lifetime supply. The theory is as follows, the grit in the valve grinding compound becomes surface area for the allen wrench and fastener to grab onto. Use a very small amount, too much will prevent the tool from fitting into the bolt head. This is an old-school auto mechanic trick that also works on screws and dowel pins. Good luck

 

[Rubicon]

Hi. This has always worked for me. Take a long pin punch about the same size as the allen head and give the punch a few hard whacks. This will do two things: it will cave in the top of the allen bolt to make the wrench fit tighter in the head and it will give the bolt threads a good jarring so the loctite loosens a little. You will have to give your allen tool a few knocks with a hammer to get it to seat in the bolt head. I've never been unable to remove an allen head bolt using this method.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

All of the above posts have good advice. I learened a couple of tricks I hope I never have to use.

You probably only have one more chance before you go to EXTREME methods! Make this one count. Careful heat is a good place to start.

If the cap screw is rounded out and even a clean cut end of an allen wrench doesn't seat super snug, try using a Standard size. You might find the Standard a tiny bit larger than metric.

If there is slop, clean up thoroughly with a dental pick and blast with air. Then clean the oil off with brake cleaner. Get some Lock Tite and glue the allen wrench in place. Let the LT set up according to directions.

If you need another extreme solution, try this. You'll need to connect with a very skilled weldor. You needs someone who understands a little metallurgy. Set the Allen wrench in place and have the weldor tack the two together. It probably won't take much of a tack since the heat will loosen things up a little while you're at it.

Please keep us posted about how you succeed.

Tom

 

[rupedoggy]

You guys are good at taking out messed up fastners! Question I have is how did you get so good? I know experience is the best teacher so you must have messed up a few of them to learn so much. One trick I did not see mentioned is the cold chisel trick. Get a friend to help. While you hold the saw and put pressure on the fastner with the wrench, Have your friend hit the side of the fastner near the top. Hit it in such a way that it helps to unwind or unscrew the fastner. The chisel will bite in a little as it helps turn the fastner. If you heat the fastner first it works better. I learned this trick from my brother (sawracr) and my friend (kdhotsaw). They are the ones that had the "practical experience" not me. Mike

 

[Walt Galer]

Howdy,

I would advise against the chisel trick. The aircraft grade allen is hard enough that the chisel is almost certain to slip, and likely be driven into the cylinder casting!

The key is to heat that bolt, pause, heat again, remembering that you need to get it only up to 200 degrees F, but that this has to be down the threads, not just the head of the bolt. (The manufacturer uses low temperature locktite on these for just this reason). The casting is meant to dissipate heat so this heating is not easy. You have to very carefully heat the area conducting the heat from the bolt head. If you get the cylinder up over 350 degrees F. you risk destruction of the hardness of the cylinder wall coating, so the operation is delicate.

Welding in the area is hazardous due to the runaway flamability of Aluminum/magnesium castings. The whole thing is apt to go away on you! (Not to mention otherwise destroying the cylinder).

Heating the bolt eleminates that 'snap', as the bolt comes loose, meaning it is no longer "glued" in place. It makes a huge difference.

Regards,
Walt Galer

 

[homelite360]

i have seen these tools before that are a tapered hex for removign stripped out allen head bolts. what you do it put them on the bolt and tap then a few times and put a wrench on them and they take any stripped out head. i think i saw them at the hard ware store next to the screw extractors.

 

[viking]

We will have to start another group called "Brothers of the stripped bolt"> All the info presented works in certain situations. You have to be flexable in the approach. Heat will help you just have to be careful because of the components involved as Walt has stated. Allen bolts are made of 4140 or 8620 steel unless they are stainless steel. They are tuff but not real hard. Tool steel is hardened to approx60 to 64 rockwell which is a scale to measure hardness. Try drilling a planer blade (it can be done btw). If you have to drill slow your drill rpm down so it can cut. keep pressure on it because if it rubs and doesn't get a good chip it will burn up. Use a left hand cutting drill sometimes the drill will grab in the cut and spin the bolt out. If you use an easy-out of some other extractor drill with recomened drill size and do not pound the extractor in with a hammer as it will blow the threads on the bolt in the threads of the other part and life really starts to suck then. When you use heat melt some bee's wax around the head and let it sit over night this works very well on exhaust manifold bolts. If you know a very.very very good welder and all else fails have them weld another bolt on top using stailess steel welding rod. the shrink rate of this rod is extreme and kind of shrinks the stipped bolt in a little and I've been able to spin them out by hand(lucky). As everyone has said you only have one shot to do it well. Plan,measure,think,check,check and double check,measure again and have a successful mission

GOOD LUCK

 

[Onthehillintn]

These are all good ways I've tried them all. The only other thing
I can add is too put all the other bolts back in and torque them
down tight. This might take some pressure off the stripped bolt.
You should be able to drill it if you have a good set of drill bits
start with about 1/8" and step your way up you should only have to drill about 1/4"deep. If your a good stick welder you could put
a nut on top of the bolt and fill it up to the top with some 6011 or 6013. Keep in mind that when you weld it the weld and bolt will
then be to hard to drill with regular h/s drills.

Good luck
Onthehillintn

 

[FSburt]

Well here's the latest on the stripped bolt I tried the clean it out real good trick and ended up rounding out the whole inside so I'm amking this job more interesting as time goes on. I did try JB weld on the allen wrench to bolt head but that work well NOT should have known. So I'm back to square one. I have an easy out but can't figure how to drill down hole on the cylinder My drill bits are too short and the same with the easy out. Any thoughts. thanks.

 

[Keener]

Now that it's stripped out nice and round it makes a perfect pilot hole to keep the drill centered. Get yourself a long series drill just a wee bit bigger diameter than the fastner shank ( thread OD) and drill the head off the thing. As was stated before nice low rpm on the drill steady pressure( not so much to put deflection in the drillbit) and some cutting oil WD40 in a pinch or even spit if your really desparate, keep your tool cool as they say.
Check the other fastner heads to see how deep to go to get past the head and mark that distance on the drillbit, white marker or masking tape works.
Set the drillbit into the head of the bolt and make your referance mark the distance you have to drill above the top of the head casting( any fixed point you can see while drilling will do).
After drilling the head off the jug should come free and you'll have a stub the length of the casting boss thickness to get hold of by any one of the means mentioned above.
I think CAREFUL heating of the stub is a good idea before trying to unwind it, direct the flame across the top of the stub while keeping a feel for the temp. in the surrounding casting.
After this I think gripping with vise grips as tight as you can then test turning to see if your winning.
If the vice grip slips even a little stop and file some flats on the stub to grip onto and try again.
Sorry for the length of the post, just my thoughts on the matter