Looking for advice on the best way to remove a rounded off bolt that has very little clearance to work with (1.25in).

While replacing an alternator on a 2006 Tc managed to shear off the tensioner pulley nut when it wouldn't budge. Luckily I had already removed the belt. I picked up a new tensioner assembly, and started to remove the old part. The firs nut that secures the piston came off easily. The bolt that allows the tensioner to swing however was seized and rounded off when pressure was applied (see photo).



The bummer is that the wheel well is 1.25in from the top of the bold so a socket wrench is out of the question. I have heavily doused the bolt with penetrating fluid and also gave it a few good whacks to loosen/further penetrate. I have tried to also lock onto it with vise grips, but the bolt is still seized.

I thought about adding heat from a torch, but given that I've now soaked the entire area with flammable fluid that option has been removed.

Any suggestions are helpful.

 

Are you sure you can't get a socket on it? Sears / Craftsman has a 'Grip Tite' socket set made for gripping rounded bolt heads - has cams that apply more force, the harder you turn it.
http://www.sears.com/grip-tite-17-pc...1&blockType=G1

If a shallow socket won't fit in there, I believe they also have box wrench set with the same Grip Tite feature.

 

Did you try to cut a slit in the center (dremel), then use an adjustable screw driver head driver to get it? I've gotten a few off like that w/ PB Blast.

 

Google stripped bolt. My god dude. They make millions of products for this. Cheap too. Nothing you a burger wouldn't cost. Go anywhere that sells tools.

 

I work on sheet metal on helicopters and this is normal to happen when the mechanics strip bolts so here are some options.

- Use lock tight in the socket to get a grip but that's if the bolt head still has a some what of a decent structure.

- Cut a slit in the middle of the bolt from one side to the other so you can use a flat head screw driver.

- Drill the center of the bolt (exactly) and increase the drill bit size by one or two and then use a bolt/screw extractor to remove it. It requires you to hammer it in the center once the hole is drilled and use a pair of vice grips to turn it.

These are the best options. You will fail if you wear down the head or even shear the head off if you continue to try and just take it off normally. If that happens then the only and best way to get it out is by using a bolt/screw extractor.

 

Those are not actually options in this case - he indicated there is only just over an inch of clearance between the head of the bolt and the wheel well.

You wouldn't be able to drill it, even with a right angle drill, no room to get a drill between the bolt and wheel well. Even if you could, the extractor would likely be too long to fit in there as well. The extractor set I have, all are over 3" long.

Couldn't fit a screwdriver in there either, with only 1.25" clearance. Plus, if the bolt is stuck so badly that it rounded the head off, you wouldn't likely be able to turn it with a screwdriver anyway. You cannot apply anywhere near the amount of torque with a screwdriver that you can with a wrench or rachet. With a flat screwdriver bit in an impact driver maybe, but again, the lack of clearance prevents any of these options.

 

stipped bolt is the least of your problem , even if your able to loosen bolt, its to long to remove , in order to remove bolt you need to tilt engine up or down. bolt to long.

 

Time to replace motor mounts too!!!! Yay!!!!

 

I am about to undertake this "operation" and I was wondering what the size is on that bolt? Were you successful? I am going to remove right side mount and attempt to raise engine up to remove but can't find the size of the tensioner bolt anywhere. I read a forum here that said it was a torx but no size.. Thanks Andrew

 

So just for everyones reference its a T45 Torx bolt. Just did this weekend and really wasn't completely difficult just getting to a few brackets was a bit of a pain. Please PM if anyone doing this has any questions not answered above! Andrew

 

My brother is putting a new water pump on for me. So he stripped the nut while he was taking tension off trying to put on the new belt... He used a 19 that everyone online said to use. So he's going to see if he has a t45 torx set socket. I pray this works. Thank you so much for the info!! If you have any other pointers, please let me know. If this works you are a life saver and this info should be put somewhere where people can find it!! Thanks again

 

So the torx socket fits on when he puts it on there by hand without the breaker bar tool, we put the socket on the tool and it won't grab, it won't fit on ...any ideas?