Swivel Housing To Axle Bolts

ID1890

New member
Need some advice. In stripping down the front axle on a 1994 Defender, I sheared the head off of one of the M10 double hex bolts. Three others would not budge, so I cut the heads off to get the swivel ball and stub axle off. I have soaked all in PB Blaster, heated, etc. and tried to get them off with a stud extractor - no luck. On the sheared bolt, I was going to drill and use an EZ out, but promptly broke off the drill bit. I'm stuck. Any suggestions?
 

chris snell

Administrator
Callsign: NW5W
Staff member
Can you post a pic of the drill bit situation? I assume that the head of the bit broke off below the face of the flange.
 

ID1890

New member
Can you post a pic of the drill bit situation? I assume that the head of the bit broke off below the face of the flange.
The bit is broken off in the bolt. It was a small bit, so I have a tried drilling with a larger bit, which didn't really work. I'm now trying to grind it with a dremel chain saw stone. It seems to be working, but it is going to take a lot of grinding stones and time to do it that way.
 

JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
these go all the way through. Why not just drill them through and tap until youve got all the bits out?
 

ID1890

New member
these go all the way through. Why not just drill them through and tap until youve got all the bits out?
Understand. That was the plan, but I cannot drill through the broken off drill bit. I'm using cobalt bits, which were supposed to drill through hardened steel (drill bit) but have had no luck.
 

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
It would be faster to swap in a complete axle housing from a Disco than trying to drill those out.
 

ID1890

New member
For anyone interested, I drilled out three bolts (w/cobalt bits) and ground out the remnants with Dremel chainsaw grinding stones, then ran a tap through to clean up. Hours and hours. On the last one, I drilled a near perfect hole, so decided the EZ Out would work. Of course, it broke. With all of the internet knowledge out there, indications were that I was pretty much effed. I kept looking and found a company called Rescue Bit. The owner invented a bit that will drill through screw extractors, taps, bolts, etc.. I was skeptical, particularly considering price of the bit, but without a good alternative, I bought one. Pleased to say that it worked exactly as advertised. Drilled through the EZ Out quickly and without issue. It would have saved a lot of time if I had one when I started. Definitely would recommend the Rescue Bit if you have broken EZ Outs or bolts. www.theoriginalrescuebit.com
 
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