Rebuild kit came today!

Hopefully I can get out to the garage tonight

 

 

Following for the clever name only.

 

Yeah, I've always been really good at coming up with cool names for stuff lol

 

So, I've managed to strip all four of these Allen screws out. Y'all got any tricks to get them out?

 

May have to drill the heads off, take the plate off and see if there is enough to get a hold of to get them out. I have started to hold a soldering iron on the heads of any factory fasteners for a minute or two. I've found that will soften any factory thread lock compound so you have a better chance of getting them out.

 

Yeah, I need to pick up a small torch for heating things up like that.

I'm taking it to my buddies house tomorrow, he has a welder. Gonna try welding some old/cheap Allen wrenches in the holes and breaking them loose with a cheater

 

Try laying a piece of rubber band over it before inserting the tool. It provides enough extra compression/friction to help get some stubborn ones out. The bands that come on broccoli work pretty great since they're nice and thick.

 

So, managed to get all four of the bolts out. My buddy has a welder (same one that made the relay panel and all the switches for me) so we welded an Allen key into the bolt. Lightly tapped it with a hammer, and the allem key just twisted off. The welds held, the actual Allen key itself sheared. Tried that twice, same result.
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We tried welding a nut to the head, but he couldn't get it to stick.

I was about ready to give up and start drilling, when he welded a bolt to it. That actually worked, and we got all four out!


So, I've since replaced all those bolts. Might not use as much thread locker as GM did when I go back, though!

Also, I'm plugging off the hole for the tcase switch, since I've got a posi lock setup (probably go to a bravada axle shaft soon) the bolt seems to be an M16x1.5. I found a drain plug that size. It's still a little long, I'll probably just stack a couple flat washers under the bolt head, as opposed to trying to cut it.

 

A torch and a welder are two of my favorite tools! Like I said a good soldering iron works great for heating fasteners to soften thread locker compounds as does a small butane torch. I switched to the soldering iron when I got into RC vehicles as they are mostly plastic.