Exhaust stud removal!

[mattster]

The head sheared off one of my front header bolts this morning. :

Just when I thought the winter plans would be nice and straight forward!

It's sheared right at the head, so there will be a piece sticking out once I get the collar off to grab with molegrips.

What's the best way to go about trying to get it to move without resorting to drilling? My initial thoughts were that WD40 won't do much good, so I might as well give it a few taps with a hammer, then try to heat it up a bit with a blowtorch. Any other words of wisdom?

I'm expecting the other bolt to do the same thing, so I'd rather have a plan of attack before I set about it with the hammer.

cheers

[AMCQ46]

use a nut splitter on the 2nd one so you dont risk ahving 2 to drill out.

also as the main corrosion between the stud and the head is at the surface of the aluminium, one of the guys on here just used a dremel to remove a think layer of the cylinder head material all rount the stud, and it unscrewed easyly

[mattster]

also as the main corrosion between the stud and the head is at the surface of the aluminium, one of the guys on here just used a dremel to remove a think layer of the cylinder head material all rount the stud, and it unscrewed easyly

that's what it was... I knew i'd read on here something about cutting into the cylinder head. Cheers - I'll get the pipes off first, then plan my attack from there.

[blob748]

What i normally do is get a file, file the top and bottom of the broken stud to make it square and then get a spanner on it, its worked for me about 5 or 6 times because the pressure from the exhaust bracket has been released. Plus put a small amount of heat on it or start the bike up.
Hope this helps

[mattster]

Yeah, the 2nd one just sheared off too.

Looks like they've never been off before in 40k miles/14 years...

Also discovered the clamp holding the small rear header onto the main part was totally rusted through - I'm surprised it was even able to hold on!!

Loads of cleaning up to be done, so I'll leave the bolts in place for a wee while yet.

[benny hedges]

if theres a bit sticking out just tack a nut onto it.
if its a m6 stud tack a m8 nut on it.
the heat of the weld will expand and contract the metal and loosen it off nice. then just get a socket on it,

i wouldnt bother with any other way tbh otherwise youll end up with a rounded off stub sticking out & having to drill it out & retap it.

[mattster]

I have a £30 lidl arc welder in the garage.... will that do for tack welding a nut on?

[benny hedges]

I have a £30 lidl arc welder in the garage.... will that do for tack welding a nut on?

perfect it just paid for itself.

[tony.mon]

Once you have it welded on good and solid, remove the stud straight away while it's still hot.

[mattster]

Cheers for the advice guys!

I'll report back when it's done - it'll be a week or two. I'm going to repaint the forks/replace the oil cooler pipes, so once the front end is stripped down and there's plenty of room at the front, i'll get the welder out.

Matt.

[BigVeeGrin]

if theres a bit sticking out just tack a nut onto it.
if its a m6 stud tack a m8 nut on it.
the heat of the weld will expand and contract the metal and loosen it off nice. then just get a socket on it,

i wouldnt bother with any other way tbh otherwise youll end up with a rounded off stub sticking out & having to drill it out & retap it.

go with this. Mine were corroded solid and no amount of heating, whacking, etc etc would shift em. Had nuts welded on and a decent purchase had them shifted easy. Do this and save a lot of time and aggro.

[tony.mon]

Here's a permanent fix.
Instead of putting a new stud back in, wind a longer-than the-stud bolt in instead.
If it has a locknut part way down you can use the locknut to compress the header clamp onto its seal, and removal is always easy, as it just means slackening off the nut; then undoing the bolt.
You will eventually wear away the aluminium thread in the head, but unless you remove the exhaust many times, it'll last the life of the bike easy.

[mattster]

Update time...

On Saturday there, I got out the welder and decided to give it a try...

Bear in mind that the garage is attached to the house, the bike is currently resting on bits of wood, on top of a tarp, which is in turn on top of a couple of layers of carpet. Also bear in mind that I liberally doused the engine in degreaser on Friday night to get rid of most of the 14 years of muck!!

I managed to get a nice arc going, but I couldn't for the life of me get the nut to properly attach itself to the stud. I was just creating a small ball of weld on the end!! Turns out welding is hard....

....Starting a fire isn't so hard though. one of the errant sparks jumped onto a rag which I had used to wipe off the degreaser the day before... oops! Cue me jumping about the garage like an idiot to get it put out. Only burnt through the tarp and one layer of carpet, so it's ok..

Put the welder back on the shelf at this point and got the dremel out. Following the advice on here, I took off a couple of mm from around both studs. The lower stud came out fine with some heat and one of those halfords stud removers. The top one ended up needing an old 7mm socket to be hammered onto it. Once it was on nice and tight it came out fine. Phew!

Now to dig out the old copper washers and get the rest of the bike in order!!

[mattster]

Here's a permanent fix.
Instead of putting a new stud back in, wind a longer-than the-stud bolt in instead.
If it has a locknut part way down you can use the locknut to compress the header clamp onto its seal, and removal is always easy, as it just means slackening off the nut; then undoing the bolt.
You will eventually wear away the aluminium thread in the head, but unless you remove the exhaust many times, it'll last the life of the bike easy.

Aye - I saw that you'd posted this onto another thread in here Tony. I don't aim to take the pipes off again, so I'll give this a try! Cheers

[sirch345]

I like the bolt idea Tony

Matt I'm glad you got it sorted in the end without burning the place down

For future reference anyone going to use an arc welder for this process, you should at least disconnect the earth lead from the battery before you start, even better disconnect the alternator as well.

Chris.