Stuck bolt

[Riptide]

So my fiance's 1994 ranger with the 3.0 v6 had a leaky gasket where the thermostat housing goes on. We took it off and managed to snap one of the two bolts off. A friend came over and made things worse yet by busting a drill bit off inside the bolt. Drilling through a drill bit is proving to be a serious pain in the ass.

So. Couple questions. Does that thermostat housing screw down into the intake or is that the actual engine block there?

Is anyone aware of a drill bit that would be hard enough to drill through another drill bit?

 

[GMWIGGS]

I believe its the intake manifold. You'll need a carbide or diamond coated drill bit, depending on what type of bit you broke off in the manifold. Is it a black oxide bit, high speed steel? Gonna be a PIA to get that old drill bit out.

 

[Riptide]

I'm not sure what type of drill bit we broke off. It was made for drilling into metal and is a gray color if that helps. And yeah this has become a serious nightmare. A friend loaned me some dewalt bits that have a titanium coating and we've already busted two of those and wore out another one. We were hoping to get by the stuck bit and get a tap in there but man.. such slow progress.

The intake manifold on her ranger seems like it'll be a pain to take off but maybe less of a pain than drilling through the bit. I can't find a manifold for this truck on ebay though. And I called the dealer - they had a hard time finding it in the computer.

 

[martin]

I believe the housing attaches to the intake. You really need to remove the broken drill piece somehow. Try rotating the broken piece counter clockwise to try to un-jam it. If that fails you might be able to break it into pieces, drills are hard and will shatter if you can hit them in the right place, this is a last resort aproach though. Twisting out is the best method and likely to cause less damage. good luck.

 

[Riptide]

We can't rotate anything one way or another. The bolt is stuck in place hard which is why we were going to tap it before the bit broke off. The bit doesn't want to come out either. We can't get anything on it to pull it back up and out. And a magnet won't get it to pop up and out of there either. The SOB is stuck.

Up to this point we have been trying to save the threads but as I mentioned - very slow going trying to get down in there because of the bit in the way. I'll try to get a diamond coated bit if I can but if we aren't able to tap the bolt then in the end we might have to kiss the threads bye-bye.

Or just take off the intake and either swap in a new one or take it to a machinist with a drill press and fix it. I can't find an intake for this ranger though. Not on ebay anyway and the dealer was zero help.

 

[spaz1879]

is there a little bit of the bolt sticking out if so take a small propane torch to it and a pair of vice grips and keep trying to loosen and tighten it untill it brakes free.

 

[Riptide]

There isn't. It broke off flush and at this point after having done some more drilling to try and get past the stuck bit it's more or less concave. We are making progress slowly getting by the stuck bit with the goal of eventually tapping it. However it's taking a long long time and we are going through drill bits left and right.

 

[93Ranger4x4]

I've done the exact same thing on my 93 3.0. Went to change to t-stat, one bolt cameout just fine, then the other snapped right off. I thought i was screwed, went to the garage, grabbed a drill and the drill bit box. Walked out and sized up, grabbed a smaller drill bit just to drill into the center so i could use a bigger bit later. Started drilling, caught a burrand the bit snapped off. Now i thought i was really screwed, ended up i had just enough sticking out to grab them with a pair of pliers and decided to use the bigger bit right away, then just tapped the hole i think to a 5/16th. just gonna have to keep trying to get the smaller drill bit out, it's gonna tke some time, but if you stick with it, it should come out. Also, if u need another lower intake, find a junkyard, more than likely they will have one or a couple in there somewhere.

 

[Riptide]

What material is that lower intake made from? Iron? Aluminum?

 

[Mutant Pony]

The intake is aluminum. The drill bit should come out pretty easy. Take a small punch and hammer and tap it to turn it backwards. Once it turns just a little it should pop right out. A good magnet could help too.
Rather than going to a larger size bolt, you could use helicoil inserts if you can't save the threads.
I used studs after that happened to me the first time.

 

[Riptide]

At this point it's pretty tough to tell the stuck bit apart from the surrounding material that makes up the bolt. The friend who broke the bit off also wasn't going in straight with it either. The intake being aluminum excludes heating the bit up enough to destroy it. I have a magnet but the bit doesn't seem attracted to it enough that it pops up and out.

I'm thinking of buying a few more bits and trying to drill down and around the stuck bit. Try to get it out once more. If we can't then at that point maybe we should just replace the lower intake entirely and give up on it.

I read up on helicoils and it sounds like you need a special tool or set of tools to get them installed. Plus how would I go about drilling out the stuck bolt plus the stuck bit before going to use a helicoil? Just use a bit big enough to get through the whole thing? Seems like the stuck bit might complicate things even then.

 

[Mutant Pony]

You whould have to have the bit out first.
I recently broke an extractor off in a hole, they don't come out! I drilled a few small holes next to it and got it out. Then drilled the hole out clean. The treads ended up damaged so I installed a helicoil insert. The tool set with inserts cost about $12.
It is very difficult to remove a steel bolt from aluminum without ending up drilling aluminum.

 

[Riptide]

Yes getting that stuck bit out seems to be the big trick here. I'm thinking about trying one more time this evening to drill around it and see if we can get it out. If we can't then I might give up on this at that point and just go ahead and start removing the intake. Once it's out either have it repaired or replaced.

Wish there was a magic bit that would drill a drill bit but unfortunately those things are pretty damn tough. But then I suppose they need to be.

This blows.

 

[metalmacguyver]

Titanium carbide bits for a dremel tool will cut the tool steel drill bit. Very tedious and the chips/filings that it throws off are like tiny needles and you will get some in your hand. But it will cut where you want them too.

Most places that carry dremels will have the right bit.

A corded dremel is a must here aswell.

 

[LEVE]

... and when you actually get done and reassemble, put anti-seize compound on the bolts before you reinsert them. You will thank yourself the next time you need to remove the bolt.