Remove stuck Allen bolt

[Mark_h]

How do you go about removing a rounded allen bolt in a tricky place? I have an old suzuki scooter that has the same mudguard fixings as the SV. Basically it's a soft dome headed allen bolt recessed into the mudguard.

The previous owner has tried to get them out and failed, just rounding off the hex. I got two out with some penetrating oil, a good whack and jamming in a torx but the other two just will not shift as the head gives before the thread moves.

Can't use heat as it will damage the mudguards.

Not enough space around them to get any grips on them.

I don't have access to any welding kit to tack on a bolt.

Was thinking about drilling a hole and using an easy-out but I rarely have success with easy-outs.

Maybe dremil in a slot and use a big flat screwdriver but worried about cutting a slot in such a tight space.

Any suggestions?

Also don't suppose anyone knows the air gap required on a set of Epicuro (UC125) forks as there seems to be absolutely no useful info on the net and no workshop manuals to be had.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

Try banging in a slightly bigger hex driver, use Allen sockets not keys as they are crap.

Some imperial sizes are slightly bigger than their metric near equivalents so might work.

Failing that drill through the head just enough to remove head, then get mudguard off and hopefully the remaining thread can be gripped with mole grips or something.

[Sid Squid]

If you own any easy-outs please put them in the bin now, if you don't, don't buy any.

Drill the head off, there is a plain section under the flange head, so just drill far enough to remove the dome section, (drill size decided by the diameter of the plain section - the bolts you've removed will tell you), then use a grip of your favoured variety on the remains.

Maybe.

If they're exactly the same as the ones on the front of a Pointy you may well end up drilling the lot out of corrosion central.

[Sid Squid]

Beaten to it!

[DJ123]

i would drill the bolt out, starting with a small drill bit to centralise the hole first. Many times when only half way through the bolt has released itself from the binding threads.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Beaten to it!

Lol, I was expecting someone to have beaten me to it, I couldn't believe no one else had posted

[Mark_h]

Under 10 mins for multiple sensible responses. That's why I still hang around this place!

Was pleased to see it's not just me who has a problem with easy-outs.

I'll give it a try with the drill luckily if I do end up drilling right through and messing up the threads I can always use a nut and bolt.

Now just need to see if my friendly Suzuki dealer will give me the technical data for the forks as I doubt the oil level will be right after 10 years of neglect. There's even less damping than an old SV650 so I suspect it's full or at best half-full of nasty sludge.

Any idea of the standard pitch of these hex bolts as I'll take the opportunity to replace all of them with some stainless ones.

They will be standard metrics, think they might be M5 but dont quote me on that.

Btw, I bagged some stainless capheads from screwfix, 100 for £4, bargain, ebay seller sell like 10 for £3.

[MJC-DEV]

Had this in my SV mudguard. As above, drill head off, then you spring the mudguard off and mole grip it. I drilled too far and off centre (when I found a drill sharp enough to cut) but using a longer stainless cap head I found enough undamaged threat for it all to work.

[mister c]

Most Japanese bolts are standard pitch except for the M10 ones, they use a finer pitch. If my memory serves me right they are M10x1.25 instead of the standard M10x1.5