Help! How do I handle this stripped/seized bolt? (pic)

Initially used a 12 point (?) and messed it up. Was my fault

 

Tried ‘em. Gave me some good force initially, then they ripped off some of the metal and became ineffective.

Wow this thread has so many suggestions. Can’t wait to try ‘em al.

 

You could also try cutting off each end of the bolt head flat and stick a crescent wrench on it

 

These are the sockets use use to extract damaged bolts. The little tabs in the socket move and actually grip down on the bolt as you try to turn. The more force you turn with, the harder they grip. May be worth a shot.

 

They are tapered. I once ground about 1/16" off of the depth and it bit deeper to get the fastener out.

 

Double check your LCAs. Seen a few recently beginning to crack at the shock tab and around the rivets. I need to wash mine and give them a look. Wouldn't be surprised if I find the same.

From the tests I've seen Kroil is a waste of money, same goes for PB Blaster.

 

We go through a lot of aero-kroil at my job. By far better than any of the other off the shelf penetrants. PB is what I use at the house, works good too. Liquid wrench is the totally worthless one imo. But OP's bolt is beyond the capabilities of any penetrant.

I wouldve attacked that with a grinder, drill and ez out the minute it started to look all mangled. Those lbj bolts are too soft to go clamping a pair of locking pliers on.

 

It sounds like the guy that installed them for the OP probably way over torqued them too and with his luck probably put red thread locker on them.

I'm surprised it didn't break if it was over torqued, I've overtorqued one by hand and snapped it off. Luckily it wasn't as bad as the OPs situation.

 

I started to strip one on re assembly once. Immediately took it back out and ran to oreilys for a new one. Those bolts are insanely soft, seems a lot of people have issues with em.

 

Funny, liquid wrench was near the top if my memory serves me right.

 

Reminds me I need to pick some new ones up today, doing my other CV tonight and I've had those same bolts out and in at least 3 times now. Feel safer if I pick up some new ones

 

Get oem Toyota. The oreillys/doorman bolts have a larger 17mm-ish head on them. Really hard to get a socket on them, especially the two closest to the rotor.

 

I know brake fluid isnt good for paint but I used it in a pinch to loosen up some diagonal cutters...

 

Go to Fastenal and get grade 10.9s. You know how many of those OEM bolts I've sheared? About 6. I've sheared zero 10.9s.

 

Thanks. My rig gets checked for damage after every hard trail. My LCAs and core support are still in great shape.

Most guys that I've seen have either of those crack are go fast guys. There's a huge difference in the forces involved when dropping rig weight into something going 1/2 mph compared to 65 mph. I'm not saying crawling can't cause them to fail but it's gonna be a lot slower and way less damaging when it happens.

My most common failures with my setup was CVs. Now it's LBJ bolts. So I upped them to 10.9. I also took my other set of spindles and welded the LBJs to them. I'm trying to figure out if the weld or 10.9 bolts will fail first. My driver side is bolted and my passenger is welded. So far both have survived the last 2 trips.

 

Don't the engineers choose bolts grades based on...you, engineering? I would be hesitant to swap for a harder bolt, especially in such a critical location.

 

I don't see how a better quality bolt would hurt anything. Lower ball joint failure on 1st gen Tacomas/3rd gen 4runners is common when the OEM bolts fail or the ball joint itself separates. Using stronger hardware will at least lessen the possibility of failure due to broken bolts. 2nd/3rd gens use a different lower ball joint design. IIRC it's an inverted version of what 1st gens have so it's less likely to come apart when the ball joint starts going bad.

 

Plus, I don't think Toyota engineers had the kind of stress/abuse in mind that some people here put their rigs through

 

Yeah, you may be correct. I come from 80's and 90's toyotas. Nothing between then and my 3rd gen taco so I know little about the particular issues on those trucks. But I don't think it's a question of quality but rather of appropriate hardness; shear vs tensile strength. Harder grades makes sense on something like a pintle hitch, but on something like a ball joint I'd imagine some flex offered by something softer would be the right thing, metalurgically.

Anyway I'm just a glorified armchair engineer and I'm almost purely speculating...

 

@Tacoman100 you solve the issue?