Stuck water bottle screw
 

I bought a used Litespeed and one of the water bottle screws is stuck. I was going to drill out the screw and chase the insert threads, then discovered the insert is spinning in the frame
Short of sending the frame back to Litespeed what can I do about fixing the insert once the screw is out?
Thanks,
Jerry

This sounds like a similar problem.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...cage-screw-out

Your best bet might be to drill or ream out the insert. This can be difficult if it spins, so you have to try to trap it so it won't spin, and use very light pressure as you drill.

If you can't keep it from spinning, get a hose clamp and drill a hold through it. Then clamp it around the tube with the hole centered over the insert, and tighten (don't get carried away). Now you should be able to drill or ream out the bolt and insert in one or two passes.

Then replace the insert with a riv nut tool, or pay a shop that has one to do the job.

I like that hose clamp trick. I'll have to keep that in mind.

Is this a titanium frame, one of their short-lived aluminum frames or one of the new carbon frames? The Ti frames will tolerate a lot more than either of the other types.

The Ti frames have a collar at the top of the insert that you could probably grab with a pair of needle nose pliers or a small Vise-Grip to hold it in place while turning out the bolt. Then you could tighten the insert using the qr skewer technique shown in the Park Tools web site.

Found out the hard way the screw was titanium. An hour with a Dremel diamond burr bit and I had the head off the screw and the water bottle frame off. After that, it took a matter of minutes to grind off the Rivnut lip and punch the remnants into the frame.
I then discovered Litespeed uses a smaller Rivnut than Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale. Three days and $10 later, I now have two new ones and a couple spares. Now I need to find the time to install them.

Hillrider:2005 Litespeed Solano frame-set I found on Craigslist.

I will have to remember the hose clamp trick if this happens again