Managed to strip the threads on all 3 of the front axle pinch bolts located on the right hand fork stanchion. Two striped with ease which left one, that went too. A Heli-coil insert fixed it but it was all to easy to strip the threads. Just thought you all might want to know so maybe you can avoid doing the same.

Edited March 20, 200521 yr by boofont

On a similar note I have snapped a pinchbolt on my Beta before, but it could have been my fault (overtightening?).

Lloyd

snapped both my pinch bolts on my beta undoing them. craftpiggy how did you get them out.

I have a only snapped one so have left it in and it is only pinched with one bolt What did you do?

Lloyd

Hi all....couple of things.

I also have one broken inside craftypiggy!!..gonna get my mate to take it out soon. I think he said he'd use one of those drill and tap things??,...the thing with a reverse thread on it?

I reckon the welding thing that HOndars said is probably bettter though.

ALSO...HOndaRS...I bought some copaslip for use like you suggest..but then, just after I bought it, someone on here said it shouldnt be used for steel/alloy areas, since it can chemically react??

DO you know anything about that? 'cause Id like to know if I should use that or just regular grease?

Might be hard to get to the broken bolt with a MIG because you have to go through the first hole to get to the bolt.

I plug the hole tightly with a wood dowel and drill through the center of it and into the broken bolt.

Lefty bits will generally walk the bolt right out.

The dowel helps you center the drill and keep it centered.

Depending where the bolt has snapped, i.e. below the surface of the hole, you may not be able to weld on to it. Using a bolt extractor may also be tricky, there's two types (that I know of anyway). The tappered lefthanded thread type may not work. As it's tappered, it may not travel far enough down the hole. You may need to use the straight splined type made by Snap-on.

Good luck!!

It was me that said about copperslip on areas where steel is in contact with aluminium. I heard it from a meachnic (known as fix-it) who reckons to know alot about this kind of stuff.

Aparrently what can happen is that because the copper is not very reactive at all then the steel bolt or aluminium rusts loads (not sure which). This process is used when protecting underground metal pipes; a big lump of rective metal (usually magnesium) is bolted to the pipe and this rusts a lot but there is no rust on the pipe.

I am abit unsure of this but just oncase I now use a small blob of some thin white grease which has infact proved to be just as effective and tidier if you have it in a tube.

To remove broken pinch bolts, using the weld method, always work on the bottom of the bolt as I suggested,  because as Charlie so rightly says its next to impossible to weld  if you are trying to work from the top.

Copaslip grease seems to work just fine for me, and would rather use this, than have to mess around removing broken bolts, which is often the result of assembling dry.

The bolt is accessible from the bottom?

If so, this is good advice.

I thought it was a blind hole.

Scorpa's are blind, as are Beta Rev 3's I think.

Just checked the 04 and 05 fork leg, blind holes I'm afraid...

Guess who's got 2 snapped pinch bolts stuck inside?

Yep..they are blind holes...HOPING to get mine done next week, so I'll let you know how I get on.

THanks for you further info on the grease thing bob...and HondaRS..so I'm still confused...maybe I'll try copaslip in one fork leg and normal grease in the other... see what happens.

SURE though..I'm not gonna put another bolt in DRY

Blind Holes????

Hey guys, this is an interesting topic as bolts seem to strip and break off anywhere anytime and getting them out is a constant problem on anything mechanical.

What I am not sure of though is the blind thread????

Is the breaking and stripping caused because the bolts are bottoming out???

If this is the case, is it a matter of making sure bolts are say 3mm shorter after allowing for the closing of the pinch clamp?

I would have thought that if the bolt never made the bottom of the thread it should not matter whether blind or drilled through. I do like the idea of the dowel used a drill centre guide I will remember that trick!!!!!

BJDownunder

A blind hole is, AFAIK, a tapped and threaded hole that a bolt screws in to. There is no access to the bottom of the bolt.

BJ--if the bolts are stock, it won't be a problem because they're made the proper length, but you're right about too-long bolts in blind holes. They can cause big problems.

Another thing to watch with blind holes is making sure they're clean.

I have seen a HUGE chunk of aluminum pop off a transmission case because the gasket was gooped up with silicone, some got in the hole and when the bolt was run in there was nowhere for the silicone to go and....BINK.

Ouch.