oil drain bolt in case
 

When tightening up the oil drain bolt, the head broke off. I must have cracked it previously, as I didn't torque it very much at all when the head snapped.

First I try to use an allen to see if there was enough of the allen hole left to get the rest of the bolt out. No luck. The I try an easy out, but the what was left of the hole wouldn't work. Now it gets ugly. I try to drill out what is left of the bolt so that my easy out will work, and the drill bit threads the rest of the bolt into the case.

Anyone have a trick I can use to retrieve this bolt without splitting the cases?

Thanks,

Josh

The cases will have to be split.
Even if your were able to fish the bolt out, you will have to screw it out while removing it.

You can try removing the clutch assembly and see if there's enough room to fish it out.

Always use a left handed drill bit when using easy outs. Most of the time, the drill bit will screw the broken bolt outwards.

Good luck.

pull the clutch side cover and you might be able to fish it out.. your does have the magnet on it right? I did this once on my 97 when I first got it.. The previous owner damaged it and when I went to swap oil the first time the head just came off..
Good luck..

I have an 07' EC300, which I should have specified in the first place.

Is there a still a chance of getting it out by removing the clutch? Will I need any special tools?

Here is a link to a recent discussion of a similar problem on KTM Talk. You may find this very helpful. It's on the second page of the General Dicussion section as of 3/12/09


http://ktmtalk.com/index.php?showtopic=331756

My money is on splitting the cases.

Download the workshop manual (manual_taller.pdf) from the www.gasgasmotos.es website. Its fairly well explained and photographed in there.


Fergus

Special tool,, luck.. and lots of it..

I just had my clutch and side cover off. The oil passage hole might be big enough, but the problem is with the magnet. It will have many opportunities to park itself on a transmission part even if you could somehow get hold of it.

If it hasn't stuck to an internal part already, try getting hold of the magnet with another magnet like a wand type, through the drain hole. See if you can get it oriented down, and then grab the magnet with needlenose pliers and see if you can thread it out backwards down and out. Worth a try.

Another longshot...

There are rare earth magnets that are VERY strong. If the drain plug is stuck to something internal you could also try epoxying a rare earth magnet to a chunk of wire and fishing around in there. The "pull" on the rare earth magnet would overcome the drain plug magnet if it's stuck to the tranny or something. If you get the polarity right the rare earth magnet might line right up with the magnet on the drain plug which might facilitate GMP's idea. "course" if you do an inadequate job of epoxying the mag to the wire you might end up with more crap lost in your crankcase...

I'd sure try all kinds of whacky stuff before splitting the cases...

Lee Valley Tools sells rare earth magnets and I know woodworking outfits like Rockler and Woodcraft sell them. I'll send you one if you can't find 'em. I use them for door latches on cabinets in my work.

I thought of trying to fish it out with another magnet in hopes that I can get the plug to line back up with the hole and grag the plug magnet with some needle nose pliers. I'll be trying this today.

I've already ordered all the gaskets I need to split the cases, as I'm really not counting on any "tricks" to work.

I'll try a few things before splitting the cases. I'll also be buying some left hand twist bits in the near future.

Thanks for the suggestions.