Bicycle Mechanics - Hex bolt stripped, any way to get it out?

I'm replacing the shifters on my MTB and I managed to strip one of the little hex bolts on my ODI lock on grips.... not sure exactly how I managed to do it, but now the right sized hex key won't work and the size up in english won't work either. I tried lubricating the grip to get it off the bars and deal with it under less stress, but to no avail and tried lubricating the screw to try and loosen it up a bit, but it didn't help. I have a replacement bolt, so I have no need for this one, but I do want to get the grip off to put on the shifter, and I'd rather not have to buy a new locking ring.

Any ideas? The area is fairly small that I have to work with, I don't think notching it would work because i can't get to one side to notch that side of the screw, and I doubt drilling it out would be good cause I want to keep the threads on the grip.

A stud extractor may be what you needhttp://moodle.student.cnwl.ac.uk/moodledata_shared/CDX%20eTextbook/dswmedia/images/useScrewextract.jpg

pardon me

Try drilling the screw with a left-handed drill bit. That often loosens it. Like bianchigirl said, you need to hold it in place. Don't try to hold the bars in one hand and the drill in the other. Clamp that sucker down, and use a drill press if you can. Remove the bars so you can put them in a vice (gently, with padding).

I don't like ez-outs. They are very hard and brittle and it is easy to snap one off. Then you are really screwed since the ez-out is harder than any drill bit.

There are other screw extractors that use softer materials that are less likely to break. They're not cheap though.

If you have any torx ("star") wrenches you might try lightly hammering one into the allen screw socket. After you douse the screw with liquid wrench or some other penetrant to loosen the gunk or corrosion on the threads.

You can also loosen it with heat. It's probably too small to safely use a torch on it but perhaps a large soldering iron would do.

You guys are overcomplicating this. All he needs to do is to drill the head off the bolt. The bolt is likely a 4 or 5mm diameter so use a 1/8" or 5/32" which will be just large enough to cut through the minor diameter of the bolt. Once you have made it through the head of the bolt, the head will pop off and the remaining stud should be easily removed by hand or with needle nose pliers. Worst case, if you cannot grip the remaining stud, you can use a screw extractor. Because the stud is not rusted in place, there is very little chance of breaking a screw extractor.

You guys are overcomplicating this. All he needs to do is to drill the head off the bolt.

+1, even if he tries the drill & extractor process, the odds are he'll pop the head off since hex sizes are usually close to or equal to the screw size.

Before getting out the drill try this; jam an old screwdriver with a width just slightly larger than the hex across the points into the screw. If it bites into the head it might give you enough hold to turn it out.

Removing the head seems like the best bet, as it's only threaded on one side so it would let me take the whole thing off and mess with it from there. I may end up buying some screw extractors anyways, but as for the drill press, the clamp, etc. I definitely can't afford or store it (sharing an apartment on a grad student's budget.) The torch isn't an option because the rubber grip is attached to the clamp (goes under it to stay in place), and I'm using a relatively good quality allen wrench from a set, not a multitool, and I'm not entirely sure how I damaged it in the first place, but it could have been that I forgot to reverse it in my mind working on an upsidedown bolt, trying to tighten the bolt more instead of loosening it....

Well I'll let you all know when I figure out what to do with it. Since I'm just taking off the head now, I may just drill straight into the allen wrench slot to the base of the head, and since I know the screw diameter, and since the head side of the whole isn't threaded. I think I can just drill to the base and it should come off nicely.


:)

You guys are overcomplicating this. All he needs to do is to drill the head off the bolt. The bolt is likely a 4 or 5mm diameter so use a 1/8" or 5/32" which will be just large enough to cut through the minor diameter of the bolt. Once you have made it through the head of the bolt, the head will pop off and the remaining stud should be easily removed by hand or with needle nose pliers. Worst case, if you cannot grip the remaining stud, you can use a screw extractor. Because the stud is not rusted in place, there is very little chance of breaking a screw extractor.

Doing it this way, the head will be completely gone. Then, there will no longer be any torque holding the "stud" in place. It will then be easy to remove the stud.....

I did it the way described, drilling through the head to the base of it, snapping off the head in place. Then i couldn't easily get to the screw, but thanks to the lubricant and relatively dirt free installation, I was able to take a piece of string, run it through the gap in the clamp, and pull it through, the friction spun the remainder of the bolt out. I've got the new one installed and all looks good.


Thanks :thumb:

Next time try 1/2 drope of super glue and glue the hex key in place. If it is not rusted or seriousely seized that could work.