Broken Exhaust Stud

[igbell]

Hello all
So what is the best way to get a broke exhaust stud out???
Finally got round to buying the new exhaust for my bike, and was out tonight getting the old one off, when I was undoing the front bolts I sherd the stud off.
So what is the best way to get the stud out??
I will try and drill and use my extractors but in the past I have not had much luck with them.

[igbell]

Ok so I have made a big mistake and have broken yet another stud, so does anybody know of a bike mechanic that would come out and get them out for me, as I have drilled and tried to get the stud out with mole grips, heated it with a blow torch and yet still nothing.

So I thought the other ones could do with the nuts putting back on to make sure the threads were ok and I broke yet another one. :'( :'( :'(

[igbell]

One broken exhaust

[igbell]

One New exhaust waiting to go on when I get the Broken studs out....

[finbar]

Is it for a VFR...if so good luck that will be a bastard jobbie! :'(

[BoatingBiker]

Welcome to the (unwelcome !) club. I to broke not 1 but 2 exhaust studs off on my 1981 XJ650.

I also tried stud extractors but unless you can drill the hole exactly in the centre then the extractor does not appear to work ( well it didn't for me).

I also used gentle heat and soaked the stud with lots of WD40. In the end (because the down tube was in the way) I droppped the engine out , not easy as its a 4 cylinder engine. Once on the bench I was able to get a small punch onto the edge of the broken stud and lightly tapping it slowly removed the stud in 10 mins - the lead up to getting the engine onto the bench took weeks as I lost interest and motivation.

Once the stud was out I undertook a rebuild of the frame ( a split was found when removing the engine !) the frame welded up then shot blasted and power coated. The top half of the engine was soda blasted and repainted by hand and then the engine re-installed. But as I installed the exhaust I broke a second stud I nearly cried ! Well the engine was out in one and a half hours and the broken stud drilled out and a new thread cut in the same morning.

Today I collected the tank, side panels, front mudguard and seat cowl from an application of new decals and a re-spray ready for fitting

Only major job left is carb overhaul and a new MOT

So two different solutions - hope they help , as it is possible to remove broken studs - Good Luck [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[alanTDM]

I had to get my studs out on the TDM to fit a new exhaust,lucky me they hadnt snapped off.
You could try running engine though would be noisy and the heat from the exhaust would expand the cylinder head then try the drill.Seeing as alloy expands at a diff rate to bolts it might be just enough to free them.
Iv use Halfords Shock and Unlock (penetrating oil with freezing agents) read instructions first,with some success lately.

[Jon_W]

Oh boy!

This is a fun operation. If the studs are sheared flush with the block the only way I know is to drill and helicoil.

The hard part is drilling the studs. Because the studs are a harder metal than the head, the drill will want to wander off of the stud.

Best to centre dot the stud, then pilot drill it at about 3-4mm. Keeping the drill in good alignment is the key. Take you time. Then build the hole size out slowly till you reach the full size required.

Helicoil, then put in (using a liberal abount of copperslip) the new and pref stainless studs.

When you re-assemble, use lashings of copper slip on the studs and nuts!!

[FJ_Biker]

I had this happen on the FJ one and ended up taking the engine out and drooping it off at an engineering workshop for them to sort out.

Good luck.

[igbell]

Here is a pic of the broken studs, as you can sort of see (as I messed up taking the photos and they are a bit fuzzy) on the left is the 2 broken studs and you can see the working studs on the right (yes I know the engine is dirty, if any of you want to clean it up for me please come round).

[igbell]

Hi Finbar, yes it is a VFR800 that this is from.

I spoke to the nice gents at George Whites and they said they could do it for me and replace the studs and fitting of the new exhaust for £180, so I said yes please.....then he said we cant do it for about 3 weeks....so all of you that bought bikes at the open weekend and are getting them soon I hate you (only cos you have put all other work back).
So I then spoke to BikeTreads and they have said that they could not quote until they see the bike, so I will have to see if my mate can help me with his Van, as GW's said they would even pick the bike up.

[pilninggas]

Also some auto-engineers (proper ones) may do it. I snapped an engine mounting bolt off on my fzr1000. They told me to take the bike in, and then the 'diamond-drilled' (which looked more like a reamer than a twist-drill) it out using a big drill-head. They then helicoiled it. Was a £30. Probably a bit far from you though the place i used (price bros engineering, avonmouth), must be somewhere in swindon though.

[kawasakiz]

I have some stud extractors depending on what size is needed. The studs on my Zephyr were like yours, it fetched them out. Might be worth a try. If you wanna try them let me know.

[CBRowner]

You need to be really careful when trying to remove the studs, as I found out, because if you try to drill into the stuck ones and the drill bit snaps, like mine did, you're left with very little option but to take the whole engine to someone to get it taken out.

You could always spend £30 at halfords on their tools for the job, which is thankfully what I did, and do it yourself. You'll also need alot of heat around the area but not too much cos metal tends to melt if damaged and a couple of cans of WD40. It took me hours to get the f'ing things off but it was worth it and deffinately needed [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[igbell]

So the Gent Amante used to get his studs out came round tonight and has got the studs out of the VFR now as well, just had an issue with one of the studs so is coming back to Heli Coil it so I have a better fitings stud...
The guys is a star.

[bobf279]

Thats good news

[Toph]

IMHO stud extractors create more problems than they cure. At the enginerring company where I work we remove studs and most come to us with broken off stud extractors, drills etc and the srory is always...."a mate had a go at it for me!!" never admit they did it themselves!! must be a "man thing!"" what we do is to build up the broken stud with a TIG welder so that a peak of weld protrudes from the stud, then we weld a new 6 OR 8 MM nut to the peak,then carefully heat the area with oxy-acetylene torch, the stud will then wind out with a spanner on the new nut. doing it this way means you don't damage the existing thread, just clean it up with a tap. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]