Seized bolt, what a PITA

When I was tossing on the new fork I ran into a snag - a seized bolt on the stem. Stainless bolt in aluminum and it just wouldn’t budge.

  • Tried tightening-loosening. Nope.
  • Tried banging it a bit. Nope.
  • Tried some cold. Nope.
  • Tried some heat (carefully because of the carbon below). Nope.

It wound up stripping the hex on the bolt so I tried to just cut a slot in the bolt to get it out with a slotted screwdriver. Nope, still would not budge.

I went to the extreme of just cutting the bolt through the middle where the break in the stem was. That finally worked but now I’ve got a headless bolt stuck in there. I tossed on an old stem but how can I get that screw out of there now?

Try a dremel drill used one for a seized bolt in a cleat once…

There is extraction tools available. Using a reverse drill bit with an easy out should do it.
I sell a nifty extraction kit that works great…Item #se100

Jim is spot on , have easy outs in my tool box.

1 Like