A sawzall is not always the answer.

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

AMCRambler

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2001
7,715
31
91
When all is said and done, he did get the job done. You could argue he should have ran out and got an easy out but if it was as simple as using an easy out or welding on a nut how come the tire shops he went to couldn't get the thing out? Sounds to me like he was stuck. Trying to run a tap through it was pretty dumb though.
 

Squisher

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
21,204
66
91
wow what a mess that would have been easy to get out. Drill out the large hole where the lug got stripped to some standard size just to slean out the hole. Buy some round stock steel the same size and bend it to 90 degrees leaving just enough material to clear the rim with put in the lug. Grind off the zinc coating at the rim of the lug bolt to expose the steel and weld the round bar to the lug. Or atleast grab a masonary drill bit and drill the head of the lug bolt off which will also cut thrrough the tap.

and speaking of a tap, WTF was he thinking unless he had a left hand thread tap plus they are way to britle to be using it like he wanted.

I think a you'd need a couple dozen masonary bits to get through that. Not all carbide is created equal. Masonary bits are better suited to cutting through a ceramic. Cutting through a composite of mild steel + very hard highspeed steel would require some serious control of feeds and speeds (not easily accomplished with a hand drill). I'd expect to see a lot of sparks.

I like the idea of welding on a nut or down through the center of a thick walled pipe. I think this works so well because half of the work is done by super heating the head of the bolt and letting it cool which seems to break any oxidation. If that failed, destroying the head of the bolt would be next. Cutting torch with a small enough head and a person that wasn't afraid of the steel blowing back at him (hard to find). Drilling would work (before he shoved a tap in there), but you'd need to work through quite a few different sizes and rig up a lever to push on the back of the drill motor (2X4 works good) once you got over like 1/4". If all else fails, given enough time and ball nosed burrs you can turn anything into chips.
 
Last edited: