Heres the problem the bolt on my back left tociko strut that one big bolt that holdes the strut in place is striped pretty badly.I swaped my front right/left and rear right fine but this bolt is stuck!!I originaly tried removing it like all the other ones using a 17mm wrench and a big pipe for exter torque and I some how striped it doing this,next I tried a socket wrench with the big pipe again and still no lock just making it worse,then I tried a vice grip and that just made it worse and laste but not least I used a cold chissal and hamer but still no luck.Anyways how am i supposed to get it off my self??I am sure a mechanic would do it some how but how could I do it my self? Thanks for any advice.{saving for a SC haha}.

 

Got a drill and a stud extractor? If so, good. If not, then you only have a few options. Weld a rod to the top of the bolt and use it to turn it. Completely drill the bolt out (hard). And, alst but not least, heat the bolt up good with a torch and try the vice-grips again.

 

and leave it on for 15 minss

 

I forgot to mention I soaked it with liquid wrench but still no luck.I think the bolt has lock tight on it which makes it extremly hard to turn.

 

Use a torch to release the loctite if it's safe to do so.

 

Is it a nut or a bolt that's stripped??
I'm assuming it is the head of the nut/bolt that's stripped, not the threads?

if it's a nut, you can buy "nutcrackers" that you clamp around the nut and crank it down and it will split one side of the nut, causing it to spin right off.
if it's a bolt, your only real option are some tighter gripping vice grips, a pipe wrench (if you can get to the bolt), or to use a file or grinder and grind off two sides flat so that you can fit a wrench over it and get it loose..

and while you're doing all that, make sure you keep it liberally soaked in liquid wrench..
Actually.. if you can find it, there's some stuff called Aerokroil that is 100x better than liquid wrench. commercial/industrial supply shops sell it, and I've seen it at a few paint & body supply places, but never at regular hardware stores or parts stores...
basically only the places that sell wholesale can carry the stuff.

hope that helps.

 

Whoa! That's the same problem that I had...same bolt too! Do you have any friends that have a Metrinch tool set? thats what I used to take off the stripped bolt. Be sure and go down to the dealer and get a new bolt too, it's only like a couple bucks. Good luck

 

use a dremel and cut it off

 

Wow!!! I had the same exact freaking problem. Where is the nut stuck on the threads? If you've got some play in the bolt and nut, wack the bolt on the nut side. I did this and it jammed the nut and I was slowly able to work the nut off. Don't worry, I don't think you could strip the threads on those bolts. They are incredibly strong. I thought for sure I would have messed up the threads, but they were fine. It's just gonna take some elbow grease, banging, and brutal patience.

Dave

 

I only got it to make 1 snap{the others made 3 snaps before becoming loose}so it's still on there good,beyond human strength {poll}.I thought about using a dremal but I don't have and I am trying not to spend any money on this{it's my goal},how much is a dremal 80ish? I will try soaking it with some more liquid wrench and then take a blow torch to it and at that point hopefully my vise grip combined with a poll will work.Thanks again for the segestion I appreciate it a great deal,keep em comin haha.

 

Back tot he question.. is it a bolt or a nut?

if it's a bolt, heating it will only make the problem worse. if it's a nut, heating it can help, but you have to make sure you heat it quickly enough that the bolt isn't heated too, causing a huge waste of time.

you can buy those nut splitters at most parts stores for just a few bucks. very much worth it in any tool kit, so you won't be screwed too bad if you buy one. I know you're trying to get out with no $ damage, but if vice grips don't work, there's not much else you can do..

again, try the file/wrench game though.. that might give you enough bite to wrench it off.
if anything, turn it into a football shape so the vice grips will have something meaty to grip onto.

 

Hey sorry I did not answer your ??? before,there is a bolt and nut but the nut can not be reached because it has these things around it locking it in place,so the bolt is the problem here and heat is out of the question now because of what you said which makes perfect sense{thanks for saving me the extra aggrevation}.About fialing the nut into a new shape with ridges,how do I do that? A sander or a metal fial or what?Thanks

 

I also had problems with stripped bolts. I think because most of the bolts and nuts have been in our car for awhile now. For me, I never messed with them until I start moding my car. Most of them were either tighten really good by the factory, or got rust on them. My problem was that I got the nut of the bolt, I used a torque wrench to get it off, and with the excessive force, the nut came off, but the top head of the bolt also came with it. So, the bolt was still stuck there. The bolt was parallel with the surface, so I didn't have any place to grip it where I can use a vise grip to unscrew it out. Some of the stripped bolts are still there in my engine bay. I'll deal with these stripped bolts later when I have some time. It's just a pain in the butt. You're happy when you got the darn thing off, but find out that sure it came off, but now it's stripped. And I tried putting WD-40 onto it to make it possibly easier to come off without stripping it, it didn't work. Good luck on yours emax.

 

just keep in mind that if you do use heat. the strut got some compressed gas in it...heating it up MAY cause it to explode..

 

I come from a family made almost entirely of machininsts and millrights, and I do a LOT of work with machinery and engines, so stripped/broken bolts are very minr problems for me. If you break the head of the bolt right off, and the the top of the shank is paralell with the surface, your only hope is a stud extractor. It looks like a cross between a 4 flute twist drill and a woodscrew, but has left-hand threads, the opposite of standard bolts and screws. You drill a hole in the center of the stuck bolt, screw the extracor in, then turn the extracor. Since the threads are elft-hand, they will only dig in and free the bolt as you turn harder. I'll try to get some pics.