Strikemaster muffler question

[Green&Gold]

I have a 2 horse Strikemaster Lazer. I recently noticed the muffler was loose and vibrating when I started up the auger. There are 2 bolts that screw into the housing of the auger head that hold the muffler on. Naturally I went about tightening these down. Well, I will sheepishly admit that I put a little too much torque on one and it broke off. I took the muffler off and sure enough the bolt broke off about a 16th of an inch inside the screw hole. The muffler will stay on with one bolt holding it on but I would like to try to fix this. Does anyone have a magical way of getting the broken off piece out so I could put a new bolt on?

I could take a few pictures if that would help anyone understand this problem better.

[Deep_Sinker]

Drill it out and replace the bolt...

[Green&Gold]

I'm not sure how I would go about doing that. I can't get at the backside of the screw hole, if you will. It just goes into the main part of the motor. Imagine like a solid concrete block with a screw hole bored into it about an inch. The broken piece of the bolt is lodged in there and it broke off just inside the opening.

[Ralph Wiggum]

They sell extractors for just such occasions. If you don't want to buy one, I would call up a garage or machine shop and see if they would take it out for a couple bucks.

[luckyc]

1. Center punch the exact center of the broken off bolt

2. 1/8" drill, drill about a quarter inch deep into bolt, by measuring your broken off bolt to the good one you"ll know exactly how deep you can go.

3. With a small EZ out, tap (not hammer) EZ out into hole and turn ever so gentley to the left (counterclockwise) it should come out fairly easy.

I've actually got them out with a pick and just try to spin it to the left, also sometimes a pencil eraser on top and turn to the left. I'd try this first and drill last. If you don't fell comfortable doing it, just take it to a small engines shop. Good luck

[TTfromBlaine]

unless you think you can drill a hole in the center of the broken bolt to put the extractor in I'd go with the previous poster. messing up those threads would be BAD if you decide to do it all I can say is use a center punch dead center of the bolt so the drill bit won't wander off. good luck

Ice dog 1 out

[eurolarva]

and make sure the drill bit is sharp. Buy a new one and keep it oiled when drilling. If that bit gets dull it will stray off center.

[ScoutII]

If you can find a left twist drill bit, sometimes the bolt will spin back out while drilling your hole.

[Green&Gold]

Thanks guys. If I can find a small engine repair shop that is close and willing to do this, I will just leave it up to them. If not, I'll have to buy one of those EZ Out extractors (their name sounds misleading) and try it myself. I just don't want to make the situation worse.

[burl]

More than likely if the bolt is broken off down in side the hole it will be tough to even drill out and easy out the bolt,if the drill starts to walk you will be screwed.Our shop uses a machine called and edm wich is short for electrical discharge machine,it actualy erodes the steel with an electrode and does not harm the rest ot the part.I would try to find a shop close by that does that or you could email me and i could see what i could do,we are located in the twin citys.Burl.

[TimR]

Use a dremel with a cutoff wheel to cut a slot in what is left of the screw. You may make a slot on either side of the hole, but that is covered by a gasket anyway. Insert flathead screwdriver and back out what is left of bolt.

[Bob Horn]

Most hardware stores will carry EZouts. That's the way I would go.

[Green&Gold]

Thanks guys, for all the help. The rest of the story is that I ended up taking it to Cragin's machine shop in Superior. They had it out for me in no time. Strikemaster quickly shipped me out a new bolt (at no charge) and I am back in business.