Broken Bolt in Grab Bar

[Guest]

So I've been at this broken bolt on and off for a while. I't broken off inside the hole.

I drilled a pilot hole and have been working at it using an extractor bit. Alternating heat and penetrating foam. The bit gets a good grip, I'm using vice grips to apply the torque, but the bolt's not budging. The thing about these extractor bit's I've noticed is that you can only apply pressure in the one direction. Can't wiggle like with a screwdriver.

So should I try and see if I get a chisel small enough to make a notch and try a screwdriver? Any other ideas?

[tom203]

Does your camera reverse the image- your extractor looks like it's right hand threaded ? I'd use a left hand one (or even better a left hand drill bit), so turning counterclockwise it will bite into bolt and as it does, the broken bolt should back out of hole.

[RobertGS]

Hi it's left handed. Bites turning counter clockwise. Bolt's not budging.

[tom203]

Hi it's left handed. Bites turning counter clockwise. Bolt's not budging.

That's good! your pilot hole looks good size-if old bolt won't budge with extractor and heat (and effort) consider drilling,then tapping for slightly smaller bolt thru old bolt. But first, I would opt for left handed drill bit which most of time will grab onto old bolt,