broken stud

glenn in camino

glenn in camino

Well-known member
I'm helping a newbie overhaul the engine in a very nice slant window fordor he just bought for a good price. I've been directing the teardown but letting him do most of the work. Yesterday we removed the head and soaked all the studs with Kroil. Today all the studs came out except one that broke off about 1/8" below the block surface. We center punched it and he began to drill it starting with a 1/8" drill in preparation for a larger drill and an easy out. The 1/8" drill broke down inside the hole. We tried a larger drill but I only went down to the broken off drill piece. A larger easy out will lock on the current hole but will not turn. The hole is now soaking in Kroil and I'll try the easy out tomorrow. Any advise?
 
I've had really good luck with a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF. Sounds kooky but it works! Another thing you might want to try would be place a 7/16" nut over the hole and have a good welder weld through the center of the nut to the top of the broken stud. The heat will help loosen the stud and the hex will give something to twist on.
 
Go to a good tool supplier and buy a carbide drill the size of the last one you used and use a lube-coolant on it and drill out the broken tool-steel bit. then restart the "step-drilling again.
 
the stud broke off in this case because it was frozen in. A so-called "easy-out" will only break, too, trust me. They are neither easy nor do they get anything out.
In the rare case where a stud breaks but was not frozen in place then yes you can use it to extract.

There are multiple threads here about how to extract broken studs. The best way is to never break one. If a stud is being difficult then it is time to think HEAT.

As stated, the easiest /best way is to take a 7/16 nut and weld it in place over the stud. A good welder can get his wire down deep inside the nut and penetrate the stud with the weld and finish off by grabbing some of the good nut. Then LET IT COOL before you try to back it out.
The heat of the process will do wonders toward extraction.
You need to get into a heat-cool cycle or two or three to loosen the fine rust binding the stud
 
I use the head and a bushing as a guide and drill the broken stud out almost to the threads. I use my acetelene cutting torch to melt and blow the remainder of the stud out of the threads in the block. The torch doesn't harm the cast iron threads. Its not a fun job with molten metal flying but its the best method that I have found. I then chase and clean out the block threads. A burks mechanical guy showed me this method about 18 years ago. I would recommend not even trying the ease out. When the ease out breaks off you will have a worse problem. It will require a special rod to weld the broken ease out and the skill to weld it. I've broke ease outs and its easy to do but very hard to remove.
 
I must be lazy. I take mine to a professional. There are, at least in Los Angeles, companies that specialize in this type of work (and I am not referring to the local machine shop that will use a brute force method that will probably do more damage than you would yourself). Try asking at your local machine shop for a place that specializes in this type of work.

Charlie Stephens
 
I center a fender washer over the broken stud. Then I weld it to the broken stud through the hole in the washer. next I weld a nut to the washer. The heat from welding will help free the stud. Now with an impacting wrench, remove a broken stud. It is that easy.


Here is a link to a pictorial of the process on Vince Falters site:

http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/studremoval.htm

.
 
Last edited:
Crazydaddyo said:
I center a fender washer over the broken stud. Then I weld it to the broken stud through the hole in the washer. next I weld a nut to the washer. The heat from welding will help free the stud. Now with an impacting wrench, remove a broken stud. It is that easy.

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Click to expand...

This is my favorite method also.
The one time I broke a drill bit in a stud, I used my Dremel and a small diamond bit to grind it away.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
This is my favorite method also.
The one time I broke a drill bit in a stud, I used my Dremel and a small diamond bit to grind it away.
Click to expand...
I find it is best to heat the block around the stud just before welding the washer to the stud. The cold block has a tendency to wick the heat from the weld and not allow the washer to weld to the broken stud.
 
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