# How to remove a stripped rotor bolt



## bank5 (May 7, 2008)

One of the bolts for my brake rotor is stripped and won't come off. Are there any tips or tools that will help get it off?


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## OneBadWagon (Mar 29, 2007)

The easiest way (IMO) is to take a dremel with a cut off wheel and make a flat tip slot. Be very careful to keep it neat, then use an impact driver and tap it with a hammer.


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## Ratt (Dec 22, 2003)

OneBadWagon said:


> The easiest way (IMO) is to take a dremel with a cut off wheel and make a flat tip slot. Be very careful to keep it neat, then use an impact driver and tap it with a hammer.


Sounds pretty good, also 'prep' the bolt; use some heat to loosen up the locktite and if its galvanic action going on maybe use some sort of pentrating oil / liquid wrench


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## happybrandon (May 17, 2008)

I have had good luck drilling the bolt head with a larger bit. The bolt head will pop off before you reach the rotor, and once the head pops off and the rotor is off the remaining threading should easily come out without the rotors tension.


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## Shalom (Nov 7, 2008)

Drill the chainring bolt out. Has worked for me.


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## scottvt (Jul 19, 2009)

Shalom said:


> Drill the chainring bolt out. Has worked for me.


I dont see how that would help.

Id do what happybrandon said.


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## Shalom (Nov 7, 2008)

scottvt said:


> I dont see how that would help.
> 
> Id do what happybrandon said.


Yes. I can see that now. Apologies to the OP. Need to learn to read, it appears :madman:


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## gmats (Apr 15, 2005)

Aloha,

If you're dealing with only 1 bolt, you can usually remove all the other bolts. Now rotate the rotor around the stripped bolt which will usually allow the stripped bolt to turn just enough to be loosened and can now be removed with a plier. If you remove the axle of the hub, then you can rotate the rotor a whole bunch to remove the bolt. 

If you're looking at more then 1 bolt, the the job gets a bit more difficult. I've used a dremel tool with a cut off wheel to cut the heads off. With the heads gone, the rotor will pop right off. After removing the rotor, the bolts will have enough thickness to grab with a plier or vice grip to remove. 

Good luck with that.


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## bad mechanic (Jun 21, 2006)

OneBadWagon said:


> The easiest way (IMO) is to take a dremel with a cut off wheel and make a flat tip slot. Be very careful to keep it neat, then use an impact driver and tap it with a hammer.


Do this before cutting the head off, since you can try this and still fall back on just cutting the head off, but not the other way around.


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## Wildeyes (Jun 14, 2007)

Use a hack saw to cut a slot on top of the bolt, and then use a flat head screwdriver to loosen the bolt.


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## aztrail (Sep 27, 2011)

Sometimes this is so easy / obvious I forget to try it... A good set of vice grips can grab a hold of the head of the bolt and break it loose...


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## thx11-38 (Aug 17, 2009)

I recently had this problem and tried all the good solutions suggested here. It finally took a trip to the hardware store to get a screw extractor. The extractor worked great.

Also, it turned out that rather than matching the drill bit to the extractor I used a slightly larger extractor than the bit I had used to drill it.

Good luck.


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## Hardtail 355 (Oct 19, 2011)

^^ Yes sir thats the way to go for sure! I thought I was going to have one strip on me last night...but all is good


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## c2rower (Jun 1, 2006)

The dremel tool with cut off wheel works great!


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## discombobulated_conundrum (Aug 2, 2008)

+1 with the screw extractor.


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## ValhallaGSXR (Apr 3, 2010)

EASYOUTS, EASY-OUTS, EZ OUT, EZY-OUT, Bolt Extractor, Screw Extractor

you can get these anywhere. the cheaper ones are usually only good for one or two uses. the nicer onces will last you many years.


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## neex (Mar 30, 2005)

depending on your tool access and experience, if all else fails, I used a MIG welder and quicky tacked an old driver bit to the screw head. It came out like nothing and I still kept the bolt/driver head that was welded in my shop drawer to remind me that it was possible and very easy to do (just cover the rotor with a cloth or something). You could likely also use plumbing solder and a hot iron or torch for the same result. Transmission fluid and a torx bit one size up/impact hammer work well also. I assume this has long been sorted out by now...


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## trodaq (Jun 11, 2011)

The mig welder suggestion is a good one. I have owned every style extractor known to man. And I probably havent used one in years. I just take another bolt and weld it to the top of the striped one. 
Two things happen here. One , you're giving yourself a new fastner of you're choice to turn. 2nd, You're heating the broken one enough so when it starts to cool it will usually break free.


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## oberwil (Nov 5, 2007)

Ironically today I wanted to get the spokes and rim and the rotor was stuck on the hub.
So I used the Drill method, and drilled out the rotor. It works, but don't expect to be able to use the hub again, unless you want to easy out 6 bolts. 

I have to mention it was an old hub, so I really didn't have any interest in saving it. As I work for a non-profit. We get stuff and have of it is toast. So I'm always saving rims, spokes, internals etc...


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