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

@eon_blue nailed it. The engineers chose those bolts for the intended use with the stock tire size. The intended use was driving on the highway with occasional light off-road use. The stock tire size for my rig is 265/70/16. That's barely a 30" tire.

I run a 35/12.5 tire. I run trails like Coyote and Fordyce. Hardly the intended use. I've personally broken 6 LBJ bolts and know of well over 20 that have sheared. For my use the OEM bolts are a joke. So I went with harder grades. So far those are holding up just fine.

 

Heat the bolt first with a torch what might help to loosen it, probably seized in there

 

Go get yourself a small GOOD, like Rigid, pipe wrench. Little heat, small pipe on the pipe wrench. Presto! Mini pipe wrench has saved my ass many times

 

I did this myself. Definitely recommend it. This bolt will be framed. It was a PIA. I had to grind it down and heat it up and go at it again with an extractor

 

You da MAN!

 

I try

 

Blast it with a blow torch. Im 100% serious. We do this on boats where I work

 

Yoda say "No try, DO !

 

More than one way to skin a cat when it comes to these situations. Always a good time. Lol. I am glad that this got resolved though. Great job OP!

 

Were you using a 6 point socket or 12 point to start with?

 

12. Was my bad.

 

Success!

 

Yea. One of them is a go fast guy and crawler for sure. I believe 12.9 would be the upgrade. I think 10.9 is factory. I'd be hesitant to weld the LBJ just because I have to change then so often. Likely do to speed though and if your crawling you'll probably get a lot longer life out of them. Ive had bolt issues but I think it was due to improper torque and no loc Tite. Sucks trying to repair that scenario on the trail. Maybe bolts and some tac welds would be the best of both worlds.

 

Gonna lose the socket but hammer a socket onto the bolt then crank it off and throw them both away. Done this with quite a few.

 

I'm almost positive that the factory bolts are 8.8. I looked for hex head M10x1.25x35 and couldn't source any. So I went with 10.9 hex head. I did find, and buy, 8 socket head 12.9's but haven't had to put them in yet. As far as welding the LBJ to the spindle goes both of mine where field repairs. I broke the first one on the drivers side and welded that one. I sourced used spindles and put those on with new OEM bolts. Next trip out I sheared the passenger side and field welded that one. So, it just happened that I have a fully welded set and a set that's still good. I decided to use the 10.9s and a welded spindle on the front of my rig as a test. I'm truly curious to see what one fails first. Grinding the welds out wont be a big deal when I need to replace the LBJ. In all my failures it's always been the bolts and never the ball and socket though.

 

I know how you feel. I was replacing an LBJ a few months ago and snapped one of the bolts in half when I was torquing them down (was the last bolt too, job was nearly done...I was pissed)

Just my luck too, the half of the bolt that broke was stuck was up inside the spindle. I tried a bunch of different things to try and extract it and after a few hours I figured...why not keep it simple and see if a pair of needle nose pliers will get it it out. Sure enough, I was able to back it out with those, lol. Sometimes the easiest solution is the best/only one.

Weird it doesn't look like the guy that installed your LBJ used any loctite on that bolt you pulled out...he must have impacted that thing on there hard. I can always remove my LBJ bolts easily with a socket wrench. They only require 59 ft/lbs of torque, not very much

 

tell me about it. I paid him an arm and a leg to do a professional job.

 

The very best thing you can do to prevent this from happening to anything is to throw out every 12 point socket in the County you live in. Maybe the State