can't drill this out!

[Drewcool2]

As you can see by the pictures uploaded there is a broken bolt in my bell housing. I used a screw extractor to try and pull it out, but it broke off too!
Now I have no choice but to drill it all out and retap it. But it is nearly impossible to drill out that broken screw extrator, even with the best cobalt bits.

Anyone have any ideas of how I can drill this out?

 

[CanadianTSi]

EXACT same thing happened to me with an exhaust stud in the head. I can't get it out, my only option is to take it to a machine shop whenever I have to pull the head.

Guess thats not much of an option for you...

 

[Drewcool2]

How bout a new bell housing. What is involved in swapping that, because I tried to separate mine from my tranny and it hangs up on a bunch of stuff inside. Is it possible to easily swap them?

 

[kristmen]

Get a Dremal with a small drill bit and drill all around that screw extractor until you can get a carbide Dremal cutting bit in there and gride the sucker out. The carbide bits I'm talking about cut sideways and are not much bigger then a small drill bit.

You used too small of an easy out.

Interestingly enough, I dont remember there being a bolt there at all on my 6bolt. Just a hole for a dowel in the pig and then in the bell housing. 7bolts diffrent I guess.

 

[Drewcool2]

What about swapping bell housings though? Anyone know whats involved?

 

[blackGSX2g]

It will probably be hard to find an AWD bellhousing. Most tranny shops buy core bellhousings to sell rebuild transmissions, and the ones they reject wouldn't be worth putting on your car.

I'd try the machine shop first, they could probably do something for ya.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Titanium Carbide Quad Flute Drill Bit.

I use those for my cnc milling and have never broken one or found something I couldnt drill through with one. They're not cheap however.

 

[Drewcool2]

Titanium Carbide Quad Flute Drill Bit.

I use those for my cnc milling and have never broken one or found something I couldnt drill through with one. They're not cheap however.

Where can I pickup one of those?

 

[PieEyedPiper]

I had a sponsor that provided me with such drill bits.

They're not an off the shelf kinda thing, but they can be ordered for somewhere between 15-25 bucks though.
check out google, I'll do the same. I'll post a link if I can find anything.

good luck.

 

[UndergroundR32]

The screw extractor head looks fairly small. Make sure you use left hand bits. Just keep drilling it.

 

[Scrymerr]

Swapping bell housings is not too simple. you will have to take the whole tranny apart, and swap over all the races and shims into the new housing, and even then it might not be exactly to spec. Im sure it would be fine, but after going through that work, and having to deal with those 26mm (i think) nuts, and resealing the tranny, you are better off just drilling it. I imagine you could do the swap in a day or two if it is the first time you have messed with your tranny.

Good luck,

 

[theSicKness]

cant tell by the pic really is there any of the bolt sticking out? if its even flush u can have some one weld a nut in the center and try turning it out that way..sounds ghetto but it works had to do it w/ an exhuast manifold

 

[RiceKiller_TSi]

Machine shop gets my vote.

 

[dave99gst]

Machine shop gets my vote.

i 2nd that.

 

[RotaryRyan]

maybe weld another short bolt to that then use your socket??? I dont know if you have a welder, but ive been in the same type of situation before and had to resort to this.

 

[Drewcool2]

Ya, I decided to take it to a machine shop. I called a bunch of places, and the only place that will touch it is a place with a plasma cutter.

 

[Drewcool2]

Well as it turns out, to get the bolt cut out I need to separate the bell housing from the tranny. Scrymerr mentioned briefly how to do it, but that is not enough for me to attempt it.

What should I do here because I need to fix that bolt, and I do not want to dig into my tranny in order to get that bell housing off.
Any suggestions besides a whole new tranny?

 

[Tallen]

A larger carbide drill bit will make easy work of that (speaking from experience). Preferably left spiral, but right is ok too. Next time use something bigger to extract it. I'm a big fan of pounding a large torx socket into a drilled hole.

 

[UndergroundR32]

As numerous other people said, have someone weld a nut or something else that you can get a grip onto and try to turn it out with that. You're looking for an easy way to get out of a difficult problem.

 

[Defiant]

It's going to be quite the welding artisan to reach down inside that hole to get anything welded onto that broken bolt, which is seized into aluminum.

 

[Drewcool2]

It's going to be quite the welding artisan to reach down inside that hole to get anything welded onto that broken bolt, which is seized into aluminum.

Thats what I was thinking... I don't know if I can get in to there and weld a nut.
And I've tried all sorts of carbide drill bits, with no luck at all.
I think I either have to:

1) look into the welding nut idea more...but i really doubt it.
2) have someone disasemble my tranny to replace or repair my bell housing
3) send my tranny to shep and have the bell housing replaced, and at the same time tranny rebuilt (might as well since it has to be taken apart)
4) get a whole new tranny to drop in

Every machine shop I talked to said I had to have the bolt cut out with a laser or plasma machine. And the only guy around here with the correct machinery says the tranny is too big to fit in the machine, meaning I have to give him just the bell housing. It would be so easy if I could just pull off the bell housing

 

[boostaddictgsx]

I now vote option 3!

But, if money is tight, there are ways to persuade the bolt out of there, there is always something harder!