DIRTBIKE

THE BACK END | TRICKS OF THE TRADE

124 | APRIL 2016 http://www.adbmag.com.au

TROUBLE

Anyone who has owned an early model YZ-F

or WR-F with an open-cartridge fork will most

likely have had to deal with the bolt holding

the brakeline protector snapping in the front

axle. The front wheel doesn’t go through tyres

as often as the rear, so it doesn’t get removed

as often. This, together with dirt and water,

manages to seize this bolt in the axle and as

soon as you try to remove it the bolt snaps.

TRICK

Getting out this bolt can be tricky as you

can’t just drill a hole into it and use screw

extractors such as Ezy Outs. If the bolt is

seized tight, the extractor will snap. The only

option is to drill the bolt out.

Step 1 Take a centrepunch and punch a hole

into the very centre of the bolt. The closer

you get the hole to the centre, the easier

removing this bolt will be.

Step 2 Start with a small, sharp drill bit

and drill directly down the centre of the

bolt. Try not to run the drill too fast or you

will overheat the drill bit in the hardened

bolt and make it blunt. Use cutting oil or

penetrating oil.

Step 3 Change the drill bit to the next size

up and drill the hole again. Keep doing this

until you have drilled all the way out to the

edges of the thread but not into the thread.

Step 4 Take a small pencil die grinder or

Dremel and gently grind the bolt away until

you can see the threads starting to appear.

Don’t grind into the threads but you want to

be able to just start to see them all the way

through the hole.

Step 5 Take a sharp screwdriver or pick and

start to fl ick out the remainder of the bolt

from the thread left inside the axle. If you

have been very gentle then you can pick away

the remainder of the bolt, leaving a perfectly

intact thread.

Step 6 Spray some penetrating oil into the

thread and run a tap up and down the thread

to make sure there are no dags or rust left

behind.

Step 7 Get a new bolt and cover it in grease

before giving it a test run in the axle.

Technical Editor Mat Boyd

GETTING OUT

BROKEN BOLTS

COST

0

TIME

10 MINS

TOOLS

DRILL, DRILL

BITS, PENCIL DIE

GRINDER OR

DREMEL,

SCREWDRIVER,

TAP SET, CENTRE

PUNCH, GREASE

AND WD40

TRICK OF

THE MONTH

DIFFICULTY RATING

WARNING

Always use safety

goggles while drilling,

grinding or tapping. Metal

fi lings can get stuck in your eye,

begin to rust and cause you

loads of pain while the

doctor digs them out.