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Sheared Steering Rack Mounting Allen Bolt

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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 08:07 PM
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Default Sheared Steering Rack Mounting Allen Bolt

Torquing the last bolt, I managed to shear it off, it cleanly broke and is impossible to get at.. At this point the only options I see are:
Try to drill it out very carefully, and hope to not damage the threads.
Completely disassemble the front end and remove the rack mounting bracket.
I can get my hand over the rack and feel the tip and a couple of threads, I tried to get a pliers on it but there is not much room to move.

Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Julian
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 09:53 PM
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Drill and use an easi-out ( screw extractor ). At least you just replaced it so you know it's not seized, it should come out very easy. Maybe loosen the other bolts to take any stress off the shank of the broken one.

If you don't feel up to it then ask someone who knows what he's doing.

Good luck.
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:13 PM
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I would not take any chances and take the rack to a machine shop to successfully resolve this issue. Any good machine shop has the experience, the equipment and the tools to extract a sheared off bolt, and I would not take any chances to further mess this up. But that's just me...
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:18 PM
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Used blue thread locker, so don't know if ez-out will work, afraid of shearing that off. Will have to apply heat if I go that route.
Thx
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Holytin
I would not take any chances and take the rack to a machine shop to successfully resolve this issue. Any good machine shop has the experience, the equipment and the tools to extract a sheared off bolt, and I would not take any chances to further mess this up. But that's just me...
Its sheared in the rack support member not the rack itself, as far as I can tell.
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:23 PM
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Originally Posted by carmad
Its sheared in the rack support member not the rack itself, as far as I can tell.
Can you still take the rack out to gain access?
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:28 PM
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Originally Posted by carmad
Torquing the last bolt, I managed to shear it off, it cleanly broke and is impossible to get at.. At this point the only options I see are:
Try to drill it out very carefully, and hope to not damage the threads.
Completely disassemble the front end and remove the rack mounting bracket.
I can get my hand over the rack and feel the tip and a couple of threads, I tried to get a pliers on it but there is not much room to move.

Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Julian
Encouragement first. The man who has never screwed up anything or broken something trying to repair never learned anything.

Since it's sheered right off the body of the bolt is probably not that tightly torqued in the hole. Access is everything. I'm not sure what the access situation is but I find that 3/8 inch right angle drill is a very common cure when I don't have much room to work. You might want to get song reverse or at least that's what I call them drill bits as you drill the boat out the drillbit is turning the opposite direction so once it starts getting some sort of a bite on the broken Bolt it may come write out. Just an idea. If you do do any drilling I would not use that fits you buy at Home Depot or Lowe's I would get the highest quality bits that I could at hey real tool store. Buy several fence and use them only while the real Sharp. Discard any fit*becomes the whole
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Holytin
Can you still take the rack out to gain access?
I can see the sheared end, but it is recessed about 1", I can feel about 1/4" sticking out the top of the support member, just can't get a grip on it to try to get it out of the top.
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Ron
Encouragement first. The man who has never screwed up anything or broken something trying to repair never learned anything.

Since it's sheered right off the body of the bolt is probably not that tightly torqued in the hole. Access is everything. I'm not sure what the access situation is but I find that 3/8 inch right angle drill is a very common cure when I don't have much room to work. You might want to get song reverse or at least that's what I call them drill bits as you drill the boat out the drillbit is turning the opposite direction so once it starts getting some sort of a bite on the broken Bolt it may come write out. Just an idea. If you do do any drilling I would not use that fits you buy at Home Depot or Lowe's I would get the highest quality bits that I could at hey real tool store. Buy several fence and use them only while the real Sharp. Discard any fit*becomes the whole
Yes I will look into getting some reversible left turning drill bits from snap-on, that maybe the way to go.
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:38 PM
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Originally Posted by carmad
Torquing the last bolt, I managed to shear it off, it cleanly broke and is impossible to get at.
Good thing it did because if you torqued it to spec and it broke, then it was defective. You're not confusing Nm with lbf.ft. are you?

Better to have it fail now than on the road. Did you reuse them or buy new ones?
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:40 PM
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Right angle pliers won't help you?
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:40 PM
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Default Sheared Steering Rack Mounting Allen Bolt

Blue locktight isn't that strong, you shouldn't need heat.

The bolts are hardened, so they have a relatively soft core, a drill will tend to self center. Don't be shy drilling into it, I think that is where a lot of folks fail...

What do you have to loose? If the easy out fails, you pull the rack and get it with vice grips, easy peezy
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Old Sep 15, 2015 | 10:48 PM
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Originally Posted by IXLR8
Good thing it did because if you torqued it to spec and it broke, then it was defective. You're not confusing Nm with lbf.ft. are you?

Better to have it fail now than on the road. Did you reuse them or buy new ones?
33 ft/lbs, installed Rothsport rack brace, but I did reuse the 2 shorter bolts, which was obviously a big mistake. Once I get this sorted out will be using 12.9 bolts, only just read the TSB on the 993 rack bolts. Stupid mistake on my part.
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Old Sep 16, 2015 | 01:21 AM
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I think this is fairly common. Recently a friend had Rothsport replace the steering rack bushings on his '97 C4S. someone previously had mangled the mounting bolts and one broke. out came the drill and a heli-coil. problem solved. Rothsport technician said he see this commonly. when drilling, start off with a small diameter bit and work up to the size needed for the easy out. good luck!!!
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Old Sep 16, 2015 | 07:44 AM
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Hmmm.....if you can feel the stubby end on the other side, maybe when you start drilling, the clockwise rotation of the drill bit will turn the remaining bolt out the other side.
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