Topic: stripped allen head bolt

[kenzie]

Changing fork seals on my cb 750,1973,bottom of shock has 6mm allen bolt recessed up into bottom of shock,someone? not me, stripped the head out,tried an easyout no luck, I would hate to replace the entire shock because these are still in very good shape. any ideas?  Thanks 

[Jay B]

I've taken a Torx bit a little bigger and driven into a stripped allen head bolt. Worked every time. You might be sacrificing the bit though, depending on the quality of the bit and the hardness of the bolt.

[ProTeal55]

Drill out the old , retap , and use a one size larger bolt in it's place.
You should be fine....

[kenzie]

The allen bolt actually threads into the fork tube inside the lower shock body, I would have to drill out both, would that still work? I might try and tap a larger tap or something like that into the stripped hole then maybe tack weld it in place, and crank on it 

[putnaja1]

Man..  I just changed my front tire- and I'm gonna change the fork seals in the next week or too.  This is just the kinda post that will make me extra nervous as I go to change the fork seals! 

If this happened to me, I guess one thing you could try is JB Weld the allen key in the fork, long side in..  Then when it bonds and is dry, hopefully it will stick enough that you can spin the bolt loose.  Then cut the allen key so you can remove the damping rod, and then replace just that part.  Is this workable?

Jason

[cb650]

The allen bolt actually threads into the fork tube inside the lower shock body, I would have to drill out both, would that still work? I might try and tap a larger tap or something like that into the stripped hole then maybe tack weld it in place, and crank on it 

Trying a torix sounds easiest.  If it dont work drill the head off and then worry about getting the rest of the bolt out of the slider when its out.
As the lower is counter bored to fit the bolthead "just drilling and re taping" wont work with out opening up the counterbore for the next sized bolt.




                     Terry 



                             Terry

[STLrocker]

like cb650 said, you dont want to drill the whole bolt out. just drill off the head. once the head is off, the fork can be disassembled.

you will then have a good portion of the bolt left sticking out. you should be able to turn it out very easily. possibly even by hand since it wont have any tension on it.

 it usually isnt stuck threads since they sit in oil, only tension of being tightened down onto the fork lower, that hold it so tight.

[Zane]

If you know someone who can weld for you (or if you can yourself - bonus) carefully weld a hex bolt to the Allen head.  The stripped bolt should then come out with a wrench or socket.  It's a bit labourious doing it this way, but you should almost certainly be able to save the bore threading .....

[bryanj]

Drill up with a 6mm drill so that the head falls off the bolt DONT go bigger or you may damage the seat in the slider that the bolt head seals on (with a copper washer)

[dpen]

A "straight fluted" ezi out would work but, unfortunately, they're like rocking horse #$%*.

Go with drilling the head off the bolt.

The PO must have been a ham fisted bastard 'course it's practically impossible to do that to a socket head cap screw (to give it it's proper name)

[crazypj]

Just drill the head off. use 8mm bit and stop when you hit the copper washer. usually ( if your not pressing too hard) the copper washer spins and stops bit from going too much deeper
PJ