Front mech bolt!

Okay, was replacing the broken cable on the front mech on my bike this afternoon and when I went to connect the cable to the mech I realized the bolt had sheared off and left a bit inside the mech! So my question is whats the best thing to do now, try and drill the rest of the bolt out or what? Cheers.

I heard you can get a tool which drills into the sheared bolt anti clockwise then when it gets tight it just unscrews whats left of the sheared bolt.You may have to go to a panel beaters or somthing to get it though.

They had them yokes in lidl or aldi recently.

the tool required is called an easy-out, it's pretty much a drill bit. google it i'm sure you will get sorted.

i have a set if you need but the really small ones can be a problem
pm me if you need to barrow em.

John, if the head of the bolt has sheared off then there is nothing holding the bolt in (as in there is no pressure or compression on the threads) therefore you should be able to screw it off with your fingers from the back (if the mech design allows it). It happened to me before and thats exactly what I did.

If you think it is stuck, then try cutting a slot in it with a dremmel or a jr hacksaw blade, then simply unscrew it with a flat blade screwdriver

Hammer and big chisel and €120 for a new one!!!

Hey Gerry, it's broken past the head of the nut so it's actually inside the thread of the mech if you know what I mean, also it doesn't come out at the back either so there is no way of gripping the bolt to twist it out.

Okay... another idea is to super glue a small something or other (nail or the likes) to the broken head of the bolt... let the glue set over night.. and then simply unscrew it.. its a bit hit and miss but it has worked for me in the past..

That could be worth a shot alright, I'll give that a go tomorrow, cheers Gerry.

Okay, look, hear is what you do.......Drill a small hole through the broken bolt and tap a torx bit into it and twist it out Simples. The heat of the drill bit should also help if the bolt is seized !! I have the bits if you need to do it!!

Here's something I tried just this morning with great success on an M3 bolt holding a hard drive a laptop motherboard..

I used a suitably sized broken drill bit, put the drill into reverse and unscrewed the bolt shaft just using friction alone.. worked a treat..!