Rounded off a bolt on the transmission pan on my wife's jeep-now what!!

[BarryG]

As Bob 4x4 and Mkinner mentioned the bolt out sockets work fairly well. I have needed to use them before and they have not failed me yet thank goodness.

 

[MKinner]

I was going to service the transmission on my wife's '04 Jeep Grand Cherokee today for the first time, and while trying to remove one of the bolts it rounded off! I guess somebody either impacted it down too tight or it was cross threaded at the factory. I tried everything I could think of to get it out, including vise grips and one of those attachments for your drill that backs out broken screws. Nothing worked. So I went ahead and just buttoned it back up with the old fluid still in there. I'm wondering what to do now? Her jeep has 80k on it now. I'm thinking that rather than dish out big time cash for someone to remove the mangled bolt, I might just let her drive it til it blows. Who knows, with the way she drives it, I might get another 50k or more out of it. I don't know, what do you guys think?

So did you get it out yet??

 

[EWalshak]

The fix (from a seasoned Machinist)

Ive fixed this problem more times than I can remember. The best way to do it is this. Take a center punch and center punch the top of the bolt(preferablbly in the center but as close as you can will be fine)It would be better if you can get the top of the bolt flat with a grinder or file but if not its ok. Start with a small drill(between 1/16to 1/8)Increase the size of the drill bit as you go. You only want to drill deep enough so that you are deeper then where the shoulder of the bolt sits on the pan, not down into the threaded area of the screw. (the pressure should only be between the head of the screw and the pan)You can guage how deep to drill by taking out one of the bolts you can get out and measure it. The idea here is to drill just deep enough and big enough so that the head of the bolt pops off or you can get it off with a small chisel. Take your time trying not to damage the pan or the threaded part of the bolt. You may be able to take a pointed tap or prick punch and tap it gently with a hammer counterclockwise to remove it or go to the hardware store or MSC supply co and get some left hand dills and drill out the remainder of the screw.

 

[EArp]

Thanks for all the great advice guys. I finally gave up on it. It's hard to tell from the pics I posted, but due to the drilling from the EZ out the head of the bolt is pretty well drilled out. There's not much left of it. Unfortunately, with the middle pretty well hollowed out there's not much left to work with. I checked her fluid and it looks/smells really good, so I guess i'm just gonna let her drive it til it blows... lol. It's already got over 80k on it now, so i'll be pleased if it can make it another 50-60k or so. I'd be more worried about it if her fluid didn't look good.

 

[ryecreek]

heat it with a torch red hot then quench it with water til its cooled

the it will be shrunk and vise grips, plires, or if its stubbron beat an old smaller socket on it and that should get ya