Topic: Windshield hinge bolts

[melbill]

I hope I am not totally FUBAR. I was trying to remove the torx bolts holding the windshield hinge. I stripped the wonderful torx bolts, then tried to use an extractor. The extractor broke off in the bolt. Now I can not even get the extractor piece out. I am even dumb enough that I tried again and broke off a second extractor. I can only think to pound down the piece of extractor so it is as flat as possible then try to drill it out. At this point I am less than optimistic.   I have replacement hinges and will definitely NOT use torx bolts again; will replace with stainless hex bolts. Any one have any ideas of how to get these bolts out. I have read other threads on removing the rest of the bolts; I am just stuck on the 2 that I broke the extractors in.

[jfrabat]

I also had the same thing happen to the bolts that go from the front of the rollbar to the windshield (including the breaking of the extractor bit!), except in this case, it WAS a stainless steel hex bolt...  I ended up leaving it in place and removing the rear of the windshield (which, by the way, requieres taking all of the top off, not just the front part of the targa hardtop, as well as removing the sound bar- which I am only keeping for the light, as I am not using those speakers) to drop it so that I could fix the wipers (only to have the wipers break again the first time I went to use them, so now I get to do that all over again!).

[FourbangerYJ]

Weld or have someone weld a nut on top of the torx.

[melbill]

That's a really good idea. That is the best idea I've heard yet.

[Jeffy]

The extractor is probably hardened steel which will be a PITA to drill.  If there is enough of the extractor sticking out then use vice-grips and get behind the dash with a wrench.  The easier/proper way to remove the hinges is to take the nut off the back and hold the torx in place.  You will need to get some body sealant off the nuts first.  This is the easier way of removing the hinges without damaging the torx.

[FourbangerYJ]

The extractor is probably hardened steel which will be a PITA to drill.  If there is enough of the extractor sticking out then use vice-grips and get behind the dash with a wrench.  The easier/proper way to remove the hinges is to take the nut off the back and hold the torx in place.  You will need to get some body sealant off the nuts first.  This is the easier way of removing the hinges without damaging the torx.

If there is not enough meat to grab with vice grips or they slip. Take a grinder and cut off wheel and cut a slot and use a large screwdriver. Then like what Jeffy said go from the back side. IIRC they do have some sort of coating on the threads which makes the nut come off pretty hard.
When I put on my mirror relocation brackets I ended up just drilling them out as large as I could then I snapped the bolts from inside the cab. It's a big PITA working under the dash.

[aw12345]

Drilling out extractors does not work, however you can try to shatter them with a good punch and a hammer have done that before or remove from the back. The torx screws have loctite on them so welding a nut on and then removing them right away is a good way of doing thios since the heat will soften the loctite so it lets go

[melbill]

Thanks all, I'm not looking forward to working under the dash as I am a rather large mammal, but if that is the best way to do this then it is definitely worth it.

If I wind up grinding a slot for a screw driver and attacking the nut from the back would a propane torch heating up the head of the torx bolt loosen up the loctite enough or do I need more heat. I can probably get use of a welder, but it would be much easier if I can avoid it.

 Again thanks for the help I will hopefully get this done this weekend. 

[FourbangerYJ]

I think it's more paint overspray than a loctite type product but I won't swear to it. I don't think a torch would be wise. You will burn the paint.

Try grinding a slot and the wrench/socket on the back side first. Once you get the nut moving to seems to go OK but whatever is coating the threads dose not let the nut turn with just fingers until it's about to come off the bolt. It would be alot easier with 2 people.
Not sure if you have a YJ or a TJ, on my YJ the dash speaker is a real PITA to work around. The magnet is fairly strong and keeps sucking the wrench to it. And on the driver side you have the fuse panel to work around too.

Or you can go to a muffler shop and see if they can weld a nut on there for you. Alot of times shops will do this kinda work when things are slow.

[melbill]

Thanks, I also have a YJ I can see how to get to the nuts that go through the body, what about the bolts that go into the windshield frame. Is the frame threaded or are there nuts I have to get to?
 

[FourbangerYJ]

It's been to long. I don't remember if there is a nut behind the windshild bolts. I thought they were captured so you don't need a wrench.

[Jeffy]

The ones for the windshield frame are captured.

[radark1]

Common problem many of us already have or will have experienced in the near future. I tried to put on driving light brackets on the windshied frame and this is when I ran into this PIA mess. The nuts are captured in the back....and the proper method to remove these bolts is to use an impact hammer on them to initially break the freeze. Once the frozen bolt is loose...you should be able to easily remove them. I learned the hard way.....after destroying the bolt Phillips head.....I tried carving a groove into the head....that didn't work...I tried the extractor routine, the blowtorch routine, none of which worked. I even had a new bolt welded on to the bad one....and when I applied force...the whole nut inside the frame broke loose...and now it just spins. You cannot get into the frame to grab hold of the nut so guess what...you are SOL.

Long story short...I cut off the bolt that was welded on to the original bolt.....then just welded the bracket to the frame over the existing bolts.

[sharpxmen]

Common problem many of us already have or will have experienced in the near future. I tried to put on driving light brackets on the windshied frame and this is when I ran into this PIA mess. The nuts are captured in the back....and the proper method to remove these bolts is to use an impact hammer on them to initially break the freeze. Once the frozen bolt is loose...you should be able to easily remove them. I learned the hard way.....after destroying the bolt Phillips head.....I tried carving a groove into the head....that didn't work...I tried the extractor routine, the blowtorch routine, none of which worked. I even had a new bolt welded on to the bad one....and when I applied force...the whole nut inside the frame broke loose...and now it just spins. You cannot get into the frame to grab hold of the nut so guess what...you are SOL.

Long story short...I cut off the bolt that was welded on to the original bolt.....then just welded the bracket to the frame over the existing bolts.

interesting, i thought that factory bolts are torx ones (at least on my YJ they are).
Had the same problem with 1 bolt, stripped the hell out of it so i end up drilling thru the bolt increasing the diameter of the bit on each pass, eventually will start moving while you drill thru it once you get close to the min diameter of the thread. the torx provides a good start for the pilot hole since is round, i usually pick a drill bit that is close to that torx diameter and just start drilling to create a cone inside the bolt head - once that is done I change to a small bit to drill all the way thru and make sure it is aligned with the bolt and not crooked, if it is not centered all the way (you can tell it's off if you insert just the bit) then i correct it with a larger bit on another pass - it's tedious process but beats the hell out of welding or trying to get the bolt out thru the inside. I had the same problem with some of the tailgate bolts and this method worked like a charm, takes long but solves the problem.

[jdarg]

Nothing works as fast as just welding a nut on there. If you don't have a welder find someone who does. Its just not worth the frustration of messing with drilling and bolt extractors when you can pop it out in literally one minute by welding a nut on there. While you are at it, replace ALL the windshield torx bolts. The welder will make short work of this job for those stubborn ones.