Author Topic: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please  (Read 4471 times)

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Shep

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Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« on: June 19, 2012, 04:57:03 PM »
With the bike now insured I decided to take it for a ride after I changed the oil and oil filter.
So much for the ride as I snapped one of the three cap screws  for the oil filter cover plate on the bottom of the bike. It needs to come out and I need to know the best way to do it without damaging anything. Should I buy a very small drill and titanium bits to drill it out?
Thanks
Shep
Shep

Dennis

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Re: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2012, 05:39:49 PM »
Sounds like a tech night. 

Is there any part still showing that you can get vice grips on?  Also, you are going to want to improve your odds as much as possible by soaking it with penetrating oil.

Are the bolts stainless or regular steel?  If stainless, they may be quite brittle, and we'll need some other feedback about drilling them out.  If regular steel, it can be drilled and an extractor squeezed in.  Heat can be applied before you break the extractor, if it doesn't come out with the right amount of torque. 

I'd pop over tonight, but my daughter has her awards ceremony at school this evening.  Given that I have ignored my family for weeks, I'd better make a show of it.

Peace & Grease, Dennis
« Last Edit: June 21, 2012, 10:45:41 AM by Dennis »

bofud

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Re: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2012, 06:12:18 PM »
I used this- Canadian tire -and worked for me. It has a drill on one side and easyout on the other.
 Bofud

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Sr.X

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Re: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2012, 06:35:19 PM »
Bofud, good to hear from you. Hope things are well for you and your wonderful wife and your fine dogs as well. Things are good up here except for the weather.

  Later, Bob

Rusty Bucket

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Re: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2012, 01:28:24 AM »
It sounds like the fastener was turning fine - not rusted in or anything,  and now that the load is off,  it merely needs to be turned out.  So, that's good news... anything that will allow you get a purchase on the remnant will have a very good chance of working perfectly.  If there is ANY of the fastener sticking out, but not enough to get hold of with needle-nosed vice-grips, then welding a 'handle' on the nub, or grinding a slot across the face may well suffice to turn it out with a flat-blade.  If it is broken off flush, or below the surface, you will have to centre-drill the fastener for an extractor,  or with a reverse drill bit. (See Bofud's pics for an extractor) The tricky part with this is, of course, getting the hole you drill in the centre of, and in line with, the fastener.  ANY TROUBLE and ALL OF THE TIME you invest in this part of the operation is well worth it, as the drill bit wandering into the threads and possibly off into your engine's sump or block is the nightmare scenario you want to avoid. If the fastener is an M6 or bigger, a ball-ended carbide grinder will cut a smooth depression into the broken fastener's top that will help you centre-punch the fastener just where you want, and be a good start to getting your hole centered.
  If this is truly on the bottom of the engine, then some thought is going to be required, and some preparations taken, to get the access you need to put things right.  Again, the time you take in preparations is always well spent. If the broken fastener is in a part that can be removed from the engine, then that may be justified, if otherwise access will be a real problem.  Jeff would probably undertake this work for you, on or off the bike, if the whole thing seemed likely to go sideways on you...
« Last Edit: June 20, 2012, 01:29:56 AM by Rusty Bucket »

Shep

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Re: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2012, 06:53:55 PM »
Thank you Thank you
All is well that ends well. Underneath the engine is not the easiest spot to get at. I was about to call Jeff our machinist when I thought I would gently try a small cold chisel on the smidgeon of cap screw remains. I turned it enough times with the chisel to get a grip on it with surgical clamps to turn it out. My original fear was I would damage the finished surface that the oil filter bottom plate O Ring seals against.
To H with torque wrenches I am going back to gauging the snugness by past experience.
However the use of the very soft steel cap screw by BMW does protect the aluminum casing.
Shep


Shep

Rusty Bucket

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Re: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2012, 12:10:07 AM »
  Result! Good goin'. 

Dennis

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Re: Snapped a Cap Screw -- Help Please
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2012, 10:44:36 AM »
"To H with torque wrenches ..." That is a real sign of a burgeoning bike mechanic.  I trust my sense of feel for torque much more than my torque wrench in almost all circumstances.  There is a different feel of regular steel vs. old steel vs. stainless steel vs. aluminum vs. cheap Chinese mystery metal.  Plus with the advent of Blue Loctite, you can safely under torque in many applications without fear of the bolt loosening on its own.

I also have to admire someone who'd take a cold chisel to a BMW.  Remember the BMW rider in Zen who would not let the protagonist use an aluminum beer can to make a shim for his loose handle bars?  Sounds like you are over the threshold Shep.  Now start looking at that frame and thinking "if I just cut that off ...."

Peace & Grease, Dennis