What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

How do I get the rest of the Bolt out once I cut the head off?

 

That's what I would do if it is that stuck changes are most if the tension is on the head and the rest of the difficulty will be from loctite which you can make less of an obstacle by heating with a torch, then it will likely come out by vice grips.

 

I see. So I'm good cutting the head off and just grabbing the Bolt shaft with vice grips and working it out?

 

I'm not saying it'll be easy peasy but still easier than what your doing with that mangled bolt head. Don't forget the heat, it really helps loctite break up and let go.

 

I tried welding a nut to the top but it just kept coming off like the metal bar. I think it's because the nut is zinc coated - I tried sanding it off but it didn't help.

So just to get my head straight: the best way to get this Bolt out is cutting off the Bolt head completely flush with the flange, and with the exposed Bolt body grab the shaft with a pair of vice grips and try to spin it out after heating the Bolt with a torch to loosen the loctite?

 

Welp I'm pretty sure I've pissed off my neighbors with the welding arc and my air compressor going off so I'll do it tomorrow. I'm sure if I started up the angle grinder they'd file some kind of hate crime charge against me.

Oh and DAMN that Toyota FIPG is strong as hell. No wonder they charge so much for it. Had to hit the axle lock actuator with a hammer a couple times to get the FIPG to get unstuck.

 

What I'm worried about is the vice grips not getting enough, no pun intentended, grip on the shaft and just spinning freely. I guess the only way to figure it out is just try it. I tried grabbing the Bolt head with the vice grips and it just kept coming off.

 

I have another idea if that does happen but you can make sure it doesn't by having good quality vice grips, not an old or cheap pair with teeth that aren't sharp any more. You can also grind a flat spot on either side of the exposed bolt so you can put a wrench on it.

 

hey I'm down to lube up your CV shafts anyday ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

 

I'll probably try this method before I cut the Bolt head off. Can you elaborate on it?

I probably shouldn't have been using a cheap pair of vice grips from the horror freight tool box special I keep in my truck for emergencies, haha.

 

What's to elaborate. Cut the head off, undo the other bolts, grind flat spots 180 degrees apart from each other on the exposed bolt body and use a wrench on the flat spots to back it out.

 

Ah. So this method is with the Bolt head already cut off - okay. That makes more sense. Thanks for the help man.

 

Yeah as long as they aren't made of Chinesium

 

Haha, really any daily use tool shouldn't be from HF or the bargain bin at ACE if your time is worth anything to you. Half of the time I use a HF tool I end up with a bigger problem than I started with.

 

I was using harbor freight star sockets and vice grips. No wonder the Bolt got stripped.

 

Yikes, the only sockets from them I'll touch are the impact sockets because they have thick walls and are 6 point, very little room for error. The e-torx they sell are okay for anything that isn't too tight but that whole fastener has a tendency to round.

 

They actually only had the impact e-torx in stock so that's what I've been using.

 

You can drill it out and use an extractor kit.

 

No, it’s one whole piece that comes off together. Just mask the triangular part and mirror up before painting. I got mine painted with my new paint job and left the triangle black. IMO looks sick.