Haalp! Broke my primary bolt off! D'oh!

[bigwilly]

Hey Poorider good luck with this. Man I hate when this chit happens, it's stressful and not fun. Fortunately you can ask experienced people with good ideas. Definitely exhaust all options before drilling that bolt. A grade 8 bolt takes high rpm and a carbide bit, and then you gotta keep it centered.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[poorider]

Hey there POORIDER, the hydraulic trick will work, you can use grease or oil, the grease wont make as big of mess as oil spray when it pops. Forget about sticking a bolt down there attached to a welder, I am a welder by trade and there is all sorts of reasons why that is a VERY bad idea. Once you get the clutch off you should be able to weld a nut on the broken stub by welding on the INSIDE of the nut.

Hope this helps

thanks sledcrazy, I'm a welder as well and ya, I'm not big into that idea myself although I am well equipped for it.
I tried the hydraulic method myself for the first time after hearing it used many times even before I started this thread, and holy crap I can't believe how well it works!. My bolt was stuck in there so hard it sheared off, yet I was surprised it took such a small amount of tourque to pop the clutch off once the hole was full of nothing more high tech than regular old 2 stroke oil.
For the record the thread is actually 3/4 fine thread on the inside of the clutch, as suggested.
Just have to get the bolt out now, but this I have done before, I have a tool I welded up to guide the drill bit centered on the bolt, for those who haven't tried it before, find a 1/4 drive 9mm deep socket (largest socket I could find that would fit inside the stubshaft I.D.) and slip a smaller O.D. 1/4 drive short socket inside the hex end of it(pole to pole so to speak) and tack them together. place your newly fabbed tool inside the stub end and use it to guide a 1/4" left handed drill bit into the broken bolt. If the bolt doesn't turn out just by drilling, lightly tap an extractor into the hole you drilled and screw it out manually. Slap yourself in the face for having to got to all this work because you were stupid enough to let this happen to you
Welding a nut on the broken end will not work as the bolt broke off well inside the stubshaft, much too far to reach with a welder, and no way of fitting a nut in there anyway

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

so you got the clutch off..great..how about the bolt? it is out as well?

 

[ghostwhite]

lets see some pics of the bolt and your home built guide sockets

 

[poorider]

ok, had a lot to do today but finally got around to getting the bolt out. As requested here's some pics..
pic of the broken end of the bolt right after it came out, with my homemade guide tool in the background

and one of the bolt being drilled out. The guide isn't too high tech, but it's definately a lifsaver, couldn't be done without it

 

[ghostwhite]

I will be someones hero when I "recommend" your idea to get a broken clutch bolt out!

JK good job

 

[let-r-buck3]

I had a primary bolt snap while riding and it broke in about the same spot as yours did just above the larger threaded point. I tipped the sled on the exhaust side and found a long enough drill bit around a 3/16" and dropped a 1/4 " drive deep well socket that fit in the cluth to keep the drill bit centerd on the bolt and drilled into the bolt using lots of oil and a slow speed on the drill. Once i drilled about an inch into the bolt I tapped the tip of a long flat blade screwdriver into the bolt and turned it out. As long as your bolt is not stuck, cross threaded or too angled of a break it should be a breeze.

 

[Mogul Molester]

OK poorider whats the count for that motor being out of that sled? Season hasn't even started yet and it seems you can't have any luck.

 

[poorider]

OK poorider whats the count for that motor being out of that sled? Season hasn't even started yet and it seems you can't have any luck.

I can't count that high. Put it this way, how many tanks of gas did I run through it last year? that should be equivalent to about half the # of times the motor has been in and out, but hey, it's a mod!