# Broken bottle cage bolt - removal ideas?



## cutthroat (Mar 2, 2004)

Anyone have ideas on how to remove a water bottle cage bolt that has a snapped head? The threads have seized. My thought is to soak the threads with some liquid wrench or other bolt solvent for a few hours, then use a small diameter drill bit to drill out the center of the bolt, thread in a smaller screw with red locktite or JB weld, allow to cure then try to back it out. I don't want to risk having the bolt fall into the down tube where it will rattle around. Alternatively maybe dremel a straight slot cut in the face of the bolt and torque it out with a flathead screwdriver? - anybody ever run into this problem and solved it? Thanks


----------



## KevinB (Oct 5, 2004)

cutthroat said:


> Anyone have ideas on how to remove a water bottle cage bolt that has a snapped head? The threads have seized. My thought is to soak the threads with some liquid wrench or other bolt solvent for a few hours, then use a small diameter drill bit to drill out the center of the bolt, thread in a smaller screw with red locktite or JB weld, allow to cure then try to back it out. I don't want to risk having the bolt fall into the down tube where it will rattle around. Alternatively maybe dremel a straight slot cut in the face of the bolt and torque it out with a flathead screwdriver?


How about drilling the hole and then using a standard screw extractor? (E.g., see http://www.mytoolstore.com/hanson/extractr.html.)

Also, I'd drill the hole *before* soaking the threads. Use the fact that the threads are seized to hold the screw in place for the drilling operation. You wouldn't want the screw to unseize during the drilling and then disappear into the frame...


----------



## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

cutthroat said:


> Alternatively maybe dremel a straight slot cut in the face of the bolt and torque it out with a flathead screwdriver? - anybody ever run into this problem and solved it?


If there's enough of the bolt left to do this this would be my first choice (after soaking the threads). If this doesn't work it's time for option #2 - drilling out the bolt and using an easy out as mentioned by KevinB.

If that doesn't work, you can drill out the entire bolt and then re-tap the boss if you don't drill out the original threads.

Is this an aluminum or steel frame? If it's an aluminum frame, you can drill out the riveted in boss pretty easily as a last resort and install an new rivet nut. Yes, the part inside the frame will fall into the down tube, but you can dribble some kind of adhesive into the down tube to glue the part in place so it doesn't rattle. If it's a steel frame, drilling out the bolt and retapping the boss works pretty well.


----------



## wetdog (Nov 7, 2005)

They make a reverse twist drill bit just for that type of job. It drills counter clockwise. Drill out the center and it will jam when it goes through, backing out the bolt.


----------



## Low_Rider (Jan 15, 2004)

What a first post!! Welcome to the boards! 

From the sounds of things it's not a riveted boss, you would be turning the boss around and around in the frame if you had enough force on it to snap the head off. (I'm assuming it's not the result of a crash!) Drilling it out would be the way to go if all else fails. It's not too much to whip the BB out to get rid of the bits that fall inside the frame.

If you have enough meat left to Dremel a notch by all means try it, but try and get as much anti-seize or whatever around it first.

These two cases are where the actual rivet is turning in the frame, but it might give you an idea. If you want to risk it, try the hot/boiling water trick to see if it helps.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=106794

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=54875

Cheers, Dave.


----------



## Fisty (Sep 19, 2005)

Get a small metal hardened metal rod (old screw driver would work) the size of the unthreaded portion of the bolt diameter and grind it like a flat head screwdriver only make it almost sharp. Dunk the rod in water alot as you grind a little bit at a time to keep the temper in the steel so that it doesnt soften. Then tape around the tapped hole to prevent scratching the paint. Lay the frame on a counter with some towels and gently but, with force needed, tap the rod into the top of the broken screw being careful not to bugger up the threads in the hole best you can. If you see that it is not making a slot in the top of the screw then stop and move on to another solution. This should make it similar to a flat head set screw. Then take a small srew driver and screw it out. Good luck!


----------



## HingeT (Dec 5, 2012)

Here is how I got a broken bottle cage screw on my bike out:






YouTube


----------



## mizzaboom (Jun 2, 2010)

I used to use the dremel/screwdriver method on stripped ski binding screws with a lot of success. I don't know how successful that will be considering the seized threads but drip some liquid wrench in there and give it a go as your first/most simple option.


EDIT: did not realize this thread was 8 years old....lol.


----------

