Rock slider rehab & reinstall

[lfhoward]

I thought I’d post my question here on the KJ side since I suspect y’all have had more experience in this area.

Just got my Rock Lizard skink sliders media blasted and powder coated! They look better than new! The first time I used Rustoleum and that was more than 6 years ago.

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Here’s what they looked like when I took them off to have them repainted earlier in the summer.

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I have a question for anyone who has ever had sliders on for 6 years and then attempted to remove them. As you can guess, I snapped the head off a grade 8 bolt when removing them, and the rest of it is still in the frame rail. How did you deal with that for the reinstall? I’ve been watching YouTube videos about drilling out stuck bolts and it looks like it will take a long time and eat up drillbits. Easy-outs are usually not preferred because they can snap off and make matters worse.

Most of my slider bolts came out with some Pb Blaster and a breaker bar.

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This one, however, snapped off.

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There’s maybe 3/16” of bolt left sticking out. And it rusted in the weeks since it happened. It was shiny at first at the break. The surface rust on the frame happened over the last 6 years.

So... what to do?
A. Center punch it. Then drill it with honing oil and lots of drill bits. Use easy out when I get the right size hole.
B. Forget the easy out. Just keep using wider bits until the whole thing is gone.
C. Screw it (figuratively). Forget about it and use only 1 bolt instead of 2 at this location.

The slider feet look like this:

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D. A different strategy... feel free to suggest. (I do not have an acetylene torch or a welder.)

I have new stainless hardware for reinstallation. Wish I had used that to begin with!!

Thanks for tips, pointers, and help.

 

[tommudd]

A,

 

[HoosierJeeper]

The other thing you could possibly do is grind two flat sides and then use a crescent wrench on it. And if that doesn't work you could always go back to A. I'd even try some PB blaster and smacking it on its face a few times then using vise grips flush against it.

 

[jeeptorino68]

D) drill a new hole in the slider mounting plate so you can still have 2 bolts there. Forget about the broken bolt

 

[lfhoward]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I can’t get to this at least until next weekend, but I’ll update the thread with what happens.

 

[Libertybiberty]

The best thing to do is to drill it out.

Soak it with lots of penetrating oil before hand, and use left-hand-twist drill bits. Make sure you start your hole in the center of the bolt and keep the drill straight. If you're lucky, the drill bits will back the bolt out without needing an easy-out

 

[lfhoward]

Started the process of soaking the bolt in penetrating oil and tapping on it with a hammer to loosen the rust. How long should I keep this up before attempting drilling?

 

[Libertybiberty]

I'm impatient and only wait an hour or two at the most. Most guys will tell you to spray the hell out of it an few times and let it sit overnight

 

[lfhoward]

For a while now this broken bolt was preventing me from reinstalling my newly powder coated rock sliders. The bolt broke off when I removed them for painting.

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Well today the bolt met its end via being drilled out...

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And got turned into this...

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Which freed up the hole...

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And allowed me to bolt the rock sliders back on!

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At one point I had to decide whether to use an easy-out, and decided against it and instead to keep on drilling. I had been hammering on the bolt and bathing it in Aerokroil for weeks, and it showed no interest in turning AT ALL. I was using vice grips on it and nothing, except rounding it off. Thus, I figured I would probably just break the easy-out in the hole and create a worse problem. I'm glad I just kept drilling it. I used cobalt reverse thread bits, and went really slowly, frequently cleaning the metal scraps off the bit and keeping it wet with oil.

 

[profdlp]

You deserve extra credit for your perseverance!

 

[tommudd]

Good job Sir , you did great

 

[lfhoward]

You deserve extra credit for your perseverance!

Thanks, from one professor to another! I’ll take those bonus points.

I’m glad we had nice weather today so I could work on it, at the same time as I had a few free hours.

 

[lfhoward]

Good job Sir , you did great

Thanks Tom. I’m glad to finally get it done. It feels good to have a win.