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I was installing the Tarett brake caliper studs this morning and everything was going swimmingly. The big studs went in great. Since the front brake line bracket bolts are easily reached (unlike the rears), I figured I'd NOT use the mini Tarett stud for it. Of course, while reinstalling the bracket, I torqued the OEM bolt a little too much and it snapped off, leaving the body of the bolt in the wheel carrier. See below for an example pic of the bolt I'm talking about.
What's my next step? Can the bolt be removed? How? I think the car is safe to drive, since the brake lines are still tucked away, so I finished the rest of the corners and put everything back together. No problems on the short drive I took afterward, and a visual inspection shows that everything is still in place.
Thanks, Tony. Is that your gloved hand?? If so, thanks for the great pic!
I'm going to bring it to my trusty Indy to handle. I'm not drilling on my car myself!
You don't drill the car. You simply drill the shaft of the broken bolt enough to get the EZ and good place to dig in. Very simple. You wont hurt the car. Give it a shot.
Exactly. You only drill about a 1/4 of an inch into the remnant of the bolt and then tap the Ez Out into the hole you drilled, and then turn it counterclockwise to get the screw out. You can ziptie it out of the way for now, order the EZ Out kit that comes with a drill bit and fix it when you have it.
If you upgrade the front hardline to flexible line then you dont have to remove bolt anymore. I have four of the six lines left from kit. If you are interested let me know. All you need is 2 lines to make pad change easier and not have to take that bracket loose.
Exactly. You only drill about a 1/4 of an inch into the remnant of the bolt and then tap the Ez Out into the hole you drilled, and then turn it counterclockwise to get the screw out. You can ziptie it out of the way for now, order the EZ Out kit that comes with a drill bit and fix it when you have it.
Doing some research... What about a left handed drill bit? More or less likely to work than an EZ Out? Seems a bit easier to use, but will it work?
Doing some research... What about a left handed drill bit? More or less likely to work than an EZ Out? Seems a bit easier to use, but will it work?
EZ out works quite well. If you tightened the bolt enough to break the head off it is probably your best bet to go with the EZ out. They sell the kits at Home Depot/ Lowes or whatever you have close by.
I actually have this Speed out. Drill with one end, turn it around and extract with the other end. Easy as can be,
Spiral easy outs often break. They have square easy outs with straight flutes. I would flatten broken bolt face with carbide rotary burr, center punch then predrill a bit with a rh drill then go to town with a lh drill.
Since you just had the bolt out (and everything is new and clean) you might get lucky trying to finesse the broken stud out. You can try tapping a sharp screw driver into the broken end, enough to make some indentation, and then twisting while pushing in hard. Or even a similar size bolt with a dab of epoxy on the end. You should not need much torque to back the broken stud out.
I have removed these on 3 different 911 variants - Can't believe it snapped. Must have been subjected to a great deal of heat.
I didn't pull on it that hard. It's an aluminum screw - didn't take much. When you say you removed these, do you mean you just took them out and didn't replace them with anything else?
Originally Posted by bkrantz
Since you just had the bolt out (and everything is new and clean) you might get lucky trying to finesse the broken stud out. You can try tapping a sharp screw driver into the broken end, enough to make some indentation, and then twisting while pushing in hard. Or even a similar size bolt with a dab of epoxy on the end. You should not need much torque to back the broken stud out.
This is what I'm thinking. But I'm not going to mess with it. I don't want to make it any worse. I'm bringing it down to my mechanic on Thursday. Hopefully it'll be as easy to back out as you're saying.
If you have a Dremel tool, you can grind a straight line down the bolt and use a flat head screwdriver to just unscrew it.
It's pretty easy. Similar to this video.
I didn't pull on it that hard. It's an aluminum screw - didn't take much. When you say you removed these, do you mean you just took them out and didn't replace them with anything else?
I have removed them as necessary to perform brake overhauls and replaced the bolt.
Snapped a brake line bracket bolt
