There are few things in the world that you should never do… one of them, fit steel bolts into aluminium holes (unless you don’t want them to come out!)
It’s no joke when steel reacts with aluminium, especially in a salty condition like a sea side – locking two parts pretty much permanently!
And this is what had happened for my, when I worked on my project KTM 990 Adventure, not the one I used for riding, but the other one – the pretty one!
The Failure:
Its was a very typical, I ordered chain, sprocket, thought will change all that in no time, and there… bolt stuck! A bit of oil on it, turn one way, turn the other way in hopes that it will break the seized threads and lube a bit… but nope… it just snapped the head of it and that was it!
I suppose that would not be a problem, if that bolt would be easily accessible, but obviously it wasn’t! all the drill bits I had where not long enough to reach it and the chuck of the drill was too wide to drill into the broken bolt at a straight angle, so…
“Weld a Nut” kind of way:
The first course of action was to weld a nut on it, as from experience, heat solves most of the seized stuff, but… not in this case – bolt broke off again… and again, and again till I pretty much had nothing left of it… one thing I noticed thought – as I tried to weld a nut on it, it seemed like aluminium swingarm acted as a heat sink, and cooled down the bolt probably much quicker than it was enough for heat to work on the seized threads, at the same time – annealing / hardening a bolt, making it a bit weaker!
So yeah, my most trusted way of removing broken bolt has failed me, and I had no other option….
“Drill that f’ker out” kind of way…
Quick look around online, revealed that there are actually specialists drill bits out there, 200 / 250 and even 300mm length! And so I had to order them!
Once arrived, drill bits proved to be super good quality, and being long enough to keep my drill way back there, I could drill into the bolts center with no problem, and one size after the other, it eventually came out!
If you found yourself in a similar situation – don’t bother with cheap Chinese drill bits sold on fleabay – not worth time or money (don’t ask me how I know it…)
Fixing the chian adjuster:
Anyway, once drills did the trick to remove stuck bolt, now I had to make adjuster work again! And even thought you can buy repair kits out there, those kits looked much the same as a “tee shape weld nuts” – just needed to find correct size and a couple of right size bolts from the local bolt and nut shop!
And so all that took me… well… bloody days! Instead of couple of hours…
Parts and Tools:
By the way, tee shaped weld nuts sourced from fleabay, and good quality super long drill bits from the company called “Castle Brook Engineering” (Sheffield, England), mentioning that because I was truly happy with their product (not sponsored, just a happy customer)
Explore More!
A list of posts about Bike Maintenance and General Modifications that might be Interesting to know!
General Modifications:
- Throttle Tamer Mods (4 ways to tame your horse!)
- Projector headlight conversion from right side road traffic to left and vice versa.
- How to make your own Exhaust or how to modify an existing one.
- Power Commander (PCV) and Thoughts on it.
- Brake Snake / Pedal Anchor – why and how!
- Lighter Clutch Mods:
- How to make motorcycles Cable Clutch lighter! (Part 1/3)
- Cheap ways to make your motorcycles clutch lighter! (Part 2/3)
- How to make a Hydraulic clutch lighter on your motorcycle! (Part 3/3)
- How to make Custom Clutch or Throttle Cables – Easier than you thought!
- How to make clutch lever lighter (Yamaha XT660Z Tenere Specific)
- Rear Suspension and Drive-Train:
- How to extend the life of Cush-Drive rubbers.
- The dangers of motorcycle lowering links, Important things to know!
- How to swap rear shock spring with no special tools!
- The Best Motorcycle chain lube!
- How to set motorcycle chain slack when suspension is not standard?
- How To Remove Stubborn And Hard To Reach Chain Adjuster Bolt
- The List of Most Useless Adventure Motorcycle Mods And Bling!
- Dangers of the lowering kits (things to know before Lowering your Bike!
Bike Maintenance:
- How to pass MOT the first time – every time!
- How to Maintain your motorcycle Locks (works with all locks!)
- Best Suspension Bearing Grease!
- What grease to use on your motorcycle?
- How to shorten Life of your wheel bearings! (Or what not to do to them!)
- Why should you grease your bolts! (And not only Bearings!)
- What is the best Chain Lube for your motorcycle?
- How to buy used Motorcycle – Free Guide.
