How to fix your stripped, chewed up, oil drain bolts.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:34 pm

Hey guys, remember me? Been a long time, been busy with school and work. I recently got hired as a professional graphics designer at a printing company in town. Haven't had time to post in a lonnnng time. Sorry about that!

Anyways, it's spring now, weather's getting warm, thought I'd do a spring tune up on my bike and get it ready for the season. I always change my oil, once a year, or every 1000 miles, whichever comes first.

Now I've ALWAYS done all the maintenance on my buddy and never had any issues. Last time I did an oil change, I installed the magnetic Prima drain bolt kit on my buddy 125, seemed like a smart choice! Well...taking it off wasn't so easy. I've always used a 17mm 12-point socket, and it chewed the new prima plug up in one turn. Every corner of the bolt was fully rounded right off. NEVER HAD THIS ISSUE ON THE OEM OIL DRAIN PLUG.

I went to Sears, bought a hexagon 6 point 17mm socket, and that didn't work either, it wouldn't properly grip the bolt.

Now I'm screwed. I've got a scooter which needs an oil change badly, and no way of draining the oil.

Called Metro Scooter and Dave said they could probably fix it for me, but that's an hour and a half away, and I can't ride my scooter in it's current condition...

I called a local motorcycle repair shop, and the guy said he's done it a hundred times and fixed stripped bolt heads on bikes, BUT he wasn't free to look at mine for quite some time...

While googling generically for "Removing stripped bolt heads", I came across this magical tool you can buy at any local Sears hardware store.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... 000P?mv=rr

I decided to buy a set for the 17mm socket piece, and test if it really would work. Came home and placed it onto the stripped bolt head, and used a rubber hammer to lightly pound it into position. Connected my ratcheting wrench, and in one shot, the bolt came right off cleanly.

You can see from above, the left good prima plug, and the right, bad plug. The right Plug was from ONE turn of a 12 point 17mm socket. It's also a bit chewed up looking from the Craftsman Bolt-Out I used on it, it "eats" into the damaged bolt to get a better grip.

Here's another close up of the bolt-out socket I bought.

Hope my problem can help people in the future. I thought I was screwed, but $20 worth of tools, and DIY handyman skills saved my buddy!

So lesson learned, never trust 12 point sockets ever again, use only 6 points cause cheap metal will strip easier with 12.

Tocsik · Post by **Tocsik** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:33 pm

Nice tip. Thanks!
Couldn't you have used the secondary drain bolt to get the oil change done?
The one on the side of the motor?
BTW: my shop does not like Prima parts at all. Head mechanic says he avoids ordering their stuff as much as possible.

schroeder · Post by **schroeder** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:39 pm

Welcome back Frosty. You helped me out a couple times in the past. Thanks for the tip on removing a stripped bolt. I have the same magnetic bolts on both my scoots but have not had to remove them yet.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:01 am

The side drain would work, but I just couldn't get "all" the oil out properly, so I had to figure out a way to remove the main motor oil drain bolt.

I was even tempted to drill straight up through the drain bolt, and to get a screw/bolt remover bit from the hardware store, but that'd more tedious, expensive, dangerous, and...hard.

This method would actually work on ANY stripped bolt head, as long as you can find the right size, or one slightly smaller. Craftsman makes several sizes, and Irwin does too. I'm not familiar with any other brands which make this special type of socket.

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:04 am

Wow. Thanks for sharing. I'd never seen a bolt in that bad of shape before!

Mousenut · Post by **Mousenut** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:17 am

Save $3 at Kroger!

Is the 6 point slightly loose on the non-stripped one? I wonder if the size is off just a bit and the 12 pt. just couldn't do the job properly.

jd · Post by jd » Sat Mar 31, 2012 1:16 pm

Another potential solution to the problem of stripped bolts:

http://www.amazon.com/Mityvac-7201-Flui ... B0002SR7TC

I bought one of these for changing the oil in my car and truck. It allows me to avoid having to get on the floor to remove the drain bolts. My buddy bought one because that's the ONLY way to change the oil on his wife's Mercedes.

The next time I change the oil on my Buddys, I'm going to try out this gadget, first, to see how much oil I can evacuate. Then I'll remove the drain plug to see how much I left behind. If it's inconsequential, then I'll probably rarely remove that drain bolt again.

PeteH · Post by **PeteH** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 2:11 pm

Seems to me that if the hex bolt were chewed-up and I'd already bought a replacement, a pair of Channellocks would have the old one out in nothing flat. Plenty of edge to grip on.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:30 pm

The 6 point hex socket is pretty tight on the oil drain bolt, so I don't see it ever stripping the head. The problem with 12 point is that it only grips the corners, and the metal of the Prima brand bolt is so soft, it just rounded and chewed them up.