Bump stop bolts broke x2

[Racket]

Another update: I've got the SumoSprings installed

Drilling out the bolts was not a big deal in the end. I took a torch to the bolts a couple of times but I'm not sure if it helped or not.

The Sumos look like the same size as the stockers?

I thought the Sumos weren't as solid as the Ford piece so Im confused why the ride would be negatively impacted - or is that for loaded/Offroad trucks? I'm thinking of improving some of the rear suspension motion on the highway and am trying to plan holistically.

What I'm getting is that your best chance for the least grief is to go ahead and hit the threads will PB Blaster (although Phil says it will be for naught) but with a breaker bar tighten then with an impact gun try to back out the bolts.

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[ctechbob]

The Sumos look like the same size as the stockers?

I thought the Sumos weren't as solid as the Ford piece so Im confused why the ride would be negatively impacted - or is that for loaded/Offroad trucks? I'm thinking of improving some of the rear suspension motion on the highway and am trying to plan holistically.

What I'm getting is that your best chance for the least grief is to go ahead and hit the threads will PB Blaster (although Phil says it will be for naught) but with a breaker bar tighten then with an impact gun try to back out the bolts.

The Sumo's are quite a bit longer than the stockers. His don't look as long because the suspension is unloaded since the truck is in the air.

PB Blaster might help, but the easiest thing to do is to just pull the OEM bumpstop poly off. It really is as easy as just grabbing it and pulling, it will come right out. Then hit the bolt with a propane torch for a bit. Start backing out the bolt, if it tightens up any, stop and reheat. There's nothing in the way up there that will get damaged by the heat and it is so much easier than screwing around with rocking the bolt.

Granted, there are threads that stick above the factory threads up top, so the bolt will corrode some up there and that has to make its way down through the threads, so still use caution, but at least get the thread lock out of the way with the heat.

 

[natefiggs]

Update: I've managed to get the broken extractor out of the bolt.

I ordered a few different bits to try:

• A diamond-tipped holesaw bit for cutting tile/stone/glass.
• A tungsten carbide bit for the Dremel.
• "The Rescue Bit".

While waiting for "The Rescue Bit" to ship and before trying the other 2 bits, I took the truck into a shop to have them take a look. They told me it would take them all day and eat through a bunch of their bits, costing a fortune. Other shops may have had better answers but everything around here is booked for weeks so I didn't bother going anywhere else.

Yesterday I decided to try the diamond-tipped holesaw bit, which was something I learned about from this video. Now you may be reading this expecting there to be some big long-winded story about how I used all 3 products and struggled to get the job done.. but the story ends here. It just worked. It wasn't difficult and only took about an hour. The bit still seems to be in good shape, too.

What I did was put it in my small impact and worked it in a circle with only modest pressure. I took a break every few minutes to let the bit cool, and in many cases it hadn't actually heated up much at all. I could tell when it was doing its job as dust would steadily fall out of the hole, lit up by my work light below. Constantly working the bit around in a circle at different angles kept the flow of dust coming, and I could see progress as the bit got deeper and deeper.

Eventually the sound and feeling changed so I took a look in the hole. Confusingly the boken extractor bit was still in there. I shoved a nail into the hole to see how deep it was when I noticed that the extractor bit was loose at the other end of the hole, although it didn't want to be pushed all of the way out. I confirmed with this photo:

I was able to push that piece of extractor bit back down into the bolt, and it fell out into my hand below:

Some before and afters...

Before the extractor was used:

After the extractor was used:

After trying to drill out the extractor with cobalt drill bits:

After drilling out the bit with the diamond-tipped holesaw bit:

The next thing I'm going to try is putting 2 nuts together on the end of the bolt that's inside the frame rail, and then using a wrench to "tighten" the bolt from that end (turning the bolt clockwise, to get it to go upwards into the rail and out of the nut). I'm thinking it might come out easier that way since all the corroded threads are already "out" and any mess I make of that part of the bolt won't matter, since I can still drill it out as my final resort.

You have no idea how much this helped with installing the Icon bump stops. I literally broke both bolts using an extractor. Tried to drill them out with no luck. Your mention about using diamond tip hole saw bit worked like a charm. It did take about 30 mins for one side and another 45 mins for the other. Regardless got it done with your tip!! Drilled all the way through the bolt and it popped right out. Used new long 3/8 bolts and nuts and now all done. It baffles me that a 5 min job turned into a week of frustrations and torture. I thank you for your write up ??

 

[TechnicallyReal]

You have no idea how much this helped with installing the Icon bump stops. I literally broke both bolts using an extractor. Tried to drill them out with no luck. Your mention about using diamond tip hole saw bit worked like a charm. It did take about 30 mins for one side and another 45 mins for the other. Regardless got it done with your tip!! Drilled all the way through the bolt and it popped right out. Used new long 3/8 bolts and nuts and now all done. It baffles me that a 5 min job turned into a week of frustrations and torture. I thank you for your write up ??

That's great to hear! Thanks for sharing.

I was working on a snowmobile recently and had to drill out a small bolt that held the seat in place. I forgot about the diamond tipped hole saw bit and went straight to the Rescue Bit. That worked pretty well until I got too aggressive with it and snapped it. Wish I had gone with the hole saw bit again!

 

[silverflash]

and here i was thinking of replacing the stockers with timbrens..... not any longer!

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