I have managed to round the head on the torx rotor bolt while trying to remove it! Any ideas on how to remove it now? I have already hacksawed a groove to fit a flat head screwdriver but its still not getting it out, but its getting more chewed up. Help much appreciated!
Bike Forum
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How to remove a rounded torx rotor bolt!!
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Posted 1 year ago #
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can you smash a large torx socket into it??
What is it stuck in??
Posted 1 year ago # -
Stuck in a hope pro 2 hub with a Hayes V 7 rotor. Last one to come out and then it gets stuck.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You need a screw extractor. Look them up on Screwfix or ask at your local hardware store.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Just grind/file the head off.
Once the rotor's removed it'll come out with a pair of molegrips.Posted 1 year ago # -
Mole grips
It's not pretty but it works...Posted 1 year ago # -
maybe drill the head off to release the tension (and disc) then unscrew the remaining thread with some pliers .
Posted 1 year ago # -
You could try filing two parallel flats on opposite edges of the bolt and use a well fitting spanner or molegrips on them.Make sure you don't file the rotor though. A small amount of heat may help to break the seal but not too much.
Posted 1 year ago # -
If you intend to use EZ-outs (bolt extractors) then mashing up the bolt head isn't a good idea, you want to be abelt to drill the middle of the bolt out pretty much dead in the centre. Hayes rotor bolts are awful for this.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Cheers for the replys! I'm going with the bolt extractors and if that doesn't work then the grind off/drill out method. Had enough of it tonight, I'm at the brink smashing it with a hammer. A 5 minute job turns into bloody hours!
Posted 1 year ago # -
My local engineering shop dealt with a similar problem for me. Cost me nothing, but they got my goodwill and recommendations to all and sundry. So- go to Amman Engineering, Betws, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. They can definately do it for you. Tell them Ambrose sent you
Posted 1 year ago # -
use a torx one size larger and tap it in with a hammer, you should then be able to unscrew it, i've had to do this a couple of time, worked every time for me.
Though this might not work any more since you've sawed it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Done this with rotors a few times over the years. Also used it the other night trying to get the silly little bolt out that holds pads into Elixrs
Find a flat head screwdriver bit just slightly larger than the torx. Apply some WD40 to the bolt and have a cuppa. Hammer the screwdriver bit into the bolt head. Use a ratchet lever with firm downward pressure on the bit and it should come free. Clean rotor of WD40.
Can also try a larger torx bit.
Feels good when it comes free.Posted 1 year ago # -
Try removing all the other bolts, then see if you can rotate the disc. Its usually enough to loosen the damaged bolt.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Twohats trick is good, can be combined with using screwdriver/moleys as well, every little helps.
Remember that you don't just have a rounded bolt- unless you screwed up or have really ropey tools- it's also stuck hard enough to have rounded in the first place. So address that as well as the rounding- the best way of removing the bolt's already failed, ie using the standard tool, so now you're trying to get a better result with a worse method, so you want to improve the odds.
Cutting a slot is much more effective if done with power tools, a dremel or similiar, because it adds a lot of localised heat. But if that's not an option then heating it by other means will probably help. Blowtorch works but is unsubtle, I like to use this stupidly powerful soldering gun I have- I've never managed to solder anything with it but it's good at plastic welding and heating up stuck bolts.
It's worth having some real penetrating oil too- WD40 is sort of OK but it's not a patch on Plusgas. Getting either to soak in is sometimes the harder part, a good trick is to build a wee fort round the bolt out of blutack so that you can fill it with the penetrating oil, and leave overnight, it'll then be much more likely to soak down.
There's also freeze release spray but I dunno, I'm not convinced it's ever helped me at all.
Molegrips can be hit and miss, especially if like most people you only have really crap molegrips. I don't like the approach of grinding off the head, it gives away too many other options, so it's a second last resort IMO.
And eazyouts as an absolute last resort, because in unskilled hands what you almost always end up with is a stuck bolt with the hardened tip of an eazyout broken off and stuck in it, and drilling them out is a total sod. I reckon for DIY mechanics they more often do harm than good.
There's various other approaches, some better some worse. Hammering a torq into an allen headed bolt is a lifesafer but I've not found it so good on stripped torqs.
TBH what you should do is buy a Suzuki motorbike and ride it through a single winter, then try and do some maintenance on it, you'll learn all there is to know about stuck bolts
Posted 1 year ago # -
...and if all else fails...
Posted 1 year ago # -
As per twohats Try removing all the other bolts, then see if you can rotate the disc. Its usually enough to loosen the damaged bolt.
I've done this a couple of times
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've got really stuck ones out by welding a hex head bolt head to the torx bolt head, then using a spanner on the hex.
Local engineering firm can do this if you can't weld.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You could tap it around with a centre punch?
Even tapping the top with a normal punch can free the threads up and can deform the top enough to gain some purchase on the Torx bit.I have used side cutters too. (Pinch the head between the rounded off bit and the edge. (shock the head first)
Posted 1 year ago # -
What Dancake said. Tap round the head first, left side then right side to break the hold, then visegrips to turn.
If that fails, cut the head off & visegrips on the stump.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Worse case, just take the head off and leave the stud in, you've 5 other bolts - which are more than enough.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hammering a larger torx bit has worked for me in the past, failing that I'd head down SSStu's route and grind the head off.
Never liked the idea of ez-outs, not on smaller diameter stuff anyway.
Posted 1 year ago # -
File a flat on 2 opposite sides then use a small Stilson of good quality molegrip. That's worked for me a few times, I've never had any luck with filing a slot.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Used an angle grinder a few times, grind a big slot into it and the a big screwdriver to turn it out
Posted 1 year ago # -
Had a ti one do exactly this a few weeks ago. Tried lots of the things mentioned above but a decent pair of molegrips were the solution in the end.
Posted 1 year ago # -
This thread just reminded me I had 2 very small screws that need replacing on my gopro (replacing the lense). Phillips head, maybe 2mm max. Tried all the usual tricks but too small to file a groove into and anything else just made them worse. Didn't want to go down the drilling route, but just went for it. Set the drill to unscrew and after a few seconds drilling, the bit 'caught' and simply unscrewed them. Can believe how easy it was.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Just wack a slightly bigger torx or hex into it and then turn it?
Posted 1 year ago # -
If you have already filed a decent slot you could try whacking it with an impact driver after suitable soaking with penetrating oil type stuff. This worked for me on several motor bike related stuck bolts/screws.
Posted 1 year ago # -
If all else fails, Irwin bolt grippers have never failed me, albeit on car related stuff.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Grind the head off it, simple and quick. Once the rotor comes off, the tension is gone from the screw and you can unscrew easily with a molegrips or pliers. Had 3 on one wheel a couple of weeks ago!
Posted 1 year ago # -
instead of using a normal flathead screwdriver, use a flathead bit in a socket wrench. that's how I get mine out.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I tried a fair few of the above methods to no avail. Went at it with the bolt/screw extractors. Drilled a 2.5 then 3mm pilot hole in the centre of the b@st@rd bolt being very careful to keep it central. Attached the left handed thread extractor and off it came first time! Completed in about 5 minutes. Thank fook for that.
Posted 1 year ago # -
another vote for
File a flat on 2 opposite sides then use a ... good quality molegrip
Posted 1 year ago #
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