Before you give up and drill, why not chase down the Snap-On truck for
some of those splined removers made for the job of driving into
stripped-out bolt heads?  You can pick up a good 12pt socket driver
while you're there. Those aren't the kind of tool you want to go to
Harbor Freight for.

I've also see people arc-weld a regular bolt onto the top of a stripped
out or broken bolt and use the head to get a regular socket on, but I'm
no welder so you'd have to ask around about that.

Jim

On Monday, December 1, 2003, at 03:35 AM, Ben S wrote:

> today i began an attempt to replace the cv joints on the 2nd axle.  the
> first went smoothly with a friend's help.  today i was not so lucky;
> the
> second axle bolt that i attempted to remove from the wheel side was
> already badly stripped, apparently by whoever had installed the
> previous
> cv joints.  it's the 12 pt style and is pretty well rounded on the
> inside, so from reading the archives, it seems that drilling the head
> off this bolt is the best solution.  with this in mind, i pose the
> following questions:
>
> any advice on doing the drilling?  all i have now is a 12v cordless
> drill and a bunch of old dull bits, so i'm going to buy new stuff.  who
> makes good drills these days?
> what kind of bit do i want?  do i need an extra-long one to reach into
> that space inside the trailing arm?
> is it possible to do this drilling without damaging the cv's boot?
> my new cv joints didn't come with retaining rings, how bad is it to re
> use the old ones?
> any advice on where to get a 12point driver socket?  i have to give
> back
> the one i borrowed today.  i'd like to avoid chasing down the matco or
> snap on truck if at all possible.
>
> any tricks, techniques, or amusing anecdotes about this arduous task
> are
> appreciated!  thanks.
>
> Ben.
>