I tried taking off my stock fork brace today, and met with some very stubborn bolts. The two allen bolts holding the fork brace to the right-hand fork are *not* coming off.
-I first let the bolts soak in some WD40
-Then, I tried a 4mm allen key. That stripped the bolts up pretty quickly.
-I dremeled some slots into them and went at it with a flathead screwdriver...no luck
-I took a small hammer, some more WD40, and soaked the hell out of 'em...and used the hammer to ping all around to bolt to knock whatever it is freezing them loose.
-I just failed my last attempt at getting them out.
Now, what the &*$^% is making these bolts stick? I thought they were painted on (the previous owner tried to hide some rust), but they're not budging *at all*.
Any suggestions?
LOCK TIGHT!!!!!!!!! and maybe a little electrolitic action between different metals in contact with each other
HEAT IS YOUR FRIEND
You didn't say whether you removed the front wheel.
There was a recent thread about this very topic. It was agreed that you need to remove the front wheel and remove the nuts from below rather than the bolts from above.
As I recall, you have to remove the wheel anyway to get everything to come apart. It's a strange setup under that fender.
He's talking brace to fork leg bolt ... That dont require wheel removal ... The fender bolts ... grrrrrr dont even get me started ... But anyway back to your problem ... they are sometimes in there with a vengeance ... and the button heads are a freaking nightmare ...
Cool.
Srinath.
I stand corrected.
Sorry - I was thinking about the fender bolts. (But don't let me get you started, Srinath! :roll: )
Yeah, I'm talking about the fork brace bolts. I've got the front wheel off, and they're not budgin'. I don't have a blowtorch handy, so how about if I heat them up with a lighter? cooking torch?
I'd really rather not make a trip to the hardware store to invest in a $30.00 bolt extractor bit set just now. I hope heating them up will do the trick.
And yeah...don't get me started on the lousy buttonhead bolts Suzuki used for the fork brace & fender. I'd eat the damn things once I take them off...just to show 'em who's boss...but I won't be able to digest them, so I guess it's a bad idea.
Bolt extractor wont do anyhitng ... besides to get at it you need to take the fork legs off ... whihc BTW isn't that hard since the wheel is off ... just take the one that's stuck off and use a left handed drill ... that allen indentation is just ideal for getting a nice 1/4 inch drill started ...
Cool.
Srinath.
Okay...good to know. I have a drill and a left hand. Let's see if I can do this:
1. take off fork leg (easy)
2. gather drill, left hand and 1/4" bit
3. drill old bolts out?
what's the deal? do i just drill out the old bolt? won't i have to retap the threads if i do that? let me know the specifics of what you have in mind. i want a ridable GS for christmas :thumb:
woo hoo!
1 propane torch
1 pair vice grips
1 flathead screwdriver
lots of WD40
some cursing (not that much, actually)
_______________________________
problem solved!
it looks like red loctite was the culprit...when i install the new brace i'll be sure to use the blue stuff. thanks for the help everyone!