stripped bolt

[kenwheeler]

I can find any other posts but I can't believe this is a first. Trying to drop the transfer on my son's 94. All the bolts were extremely hard to break free but the bottom one. That bolt is now rounded and I can't break it loose. I tried wd40, lockjaws, heat and thats as far as we got. Bolts still in there and I can't get the transfer apart. Can I drill it out? I need to get to the clutch but don't think I can drop the whole thing (trans and transfer) as a unit because of the fuel tank being in the way....or can I?

 

[kevinsranger]

cut/grind the head off and keep it in there as an alignment pin

 

[kevinsranger]

oh and from memory when i took my trans out, you can get it out as a unit but its a heavy s.o.b., but i had an auto, its a much bigger heavier case

 

[sfwjesse]

Last thing you could try is the IRWIN special sockets at home depot. They have cutters in them that grab on rounded bolt heads. A set of 5 is 20 bucks and they work on metric and standard...have saved me a few times. Get a good bite...then heat her up again and try. If you dont want to spend the money...do what kevinsranger said and grind it off. I broke 2 bolts on mine when i took it off. You grind them flush, then drill a small hole through the center. Use larger and larger bits till you are close to the threads, then run a tap through it to clean out the helix. The key is to drill straight and to get your hole right down the center, and not touch the t-case threads. I did it with a hand drill.

I think my tranny only had to come back about 4" before i could cock it downwards (long time ago..going off memory)...you probably can get it out with the t-case on if your careful and have 2 people.

 

[kenwheeler]

Thanks, got it, 2 hours of fighting and cussing. I tried those stripped bolt removers but they couldn't get a bite either. Tried to weld a bolt on it but that didn't hold. Cool thing about it, the excess weld slag was enough for my lock jaws to get a new bite and it came out. Previous owner put locktite on the bolts. They were tight.