Stripping torx heads

JronATL

JronATL

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Joined
Mar 2, 2023
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atlanta
Guys, I hate to ask stupid questions, but how the heck do you keep from stripping the heads of these dang torx bolts?
 
PB blaster. Wait a day. Hit it with a torch. Drink a beer. Careful with torque when you wrench it... Check torx head to see if it is starting to bend. If it doesn't give, repeat process starting with PB blaster. Cuss , drink more beer. If after 48 hours no progress then drill and extract it out. Quality torx head tools are hard to come by in my experience.
 
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Well I’ve got the cussing part down.

Literally soaked this seatbelt bolt in pb blaster for a week but still stripped it. The stripping seems to happen really sudden— i guess i must be over torquing it. maybe im also not keeping the wrench straight enough
 
My biggest problem has been breaking the bits. Have just received some Torx impact bits in mail. Going to see how these hold up. Roll bar bolts have been a bear, going to switch to the oxy acetylene torch now and get the back side welded on nuts glowing hot and try removing.
 
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One of the biggest culprits is junk being in the cavity of the head. You must start with that area cleaned out or the socket won't bite properly. The other thing is carefully placed heat. Then sometimes they still won't come and you have to get creative.
 
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Pman said:
One of the biggest culprits is junk being in the cavity of the head. You must start with that area cleaned out or the socket won't bite properly. The other thing is carefully placed heat. Then sometimes they still won't come and you have to get creative.
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A lot of mine are filled with the roll on bed liner that the entire Jeep was covered in when I got it. A torch and pick usually has to be used to clean the bolt heads out. I would never use that crap.
 
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Pman said:
One of the biggest culprits is junk being in the cavity of the head. You must start with that area cleaned out or the socket won't bite properly. The other thing is carefully placed heat. Then sometimes they still won't come and you have to get creative.
Click to expand...
Yep. One I was trying to remove was the seatbelt buckle end and i should’ve vacuumed out the plastic sleeve first. Also was getting pushed a bit off center by the opening in the plastic. Will have t get creative, since i want to reuse the sleeve.
 
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A trick an old gear head taught me.....Valve grinding compound....The courser the better. Squirt it into the torx head and then get the bit as deep as possible and twist it out. It's never failed me...Works on everything, Bolt heads, Phillips and flathead screws......
 
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Weld a nut to the head of the screw. I use anti-seize when replacing bolts. Also a few swift hits with a punch can help. A punch driver pictured below can work also.

IMG_1883.jpeg
 
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A smaller impact gun can help in these situations. Also, I've noticed people tend to select one size too small when using torx bits. It should be a tight fit with no rotational play at all unless it's already worn out. . The next size down will seem to fit well but will have a tiny bit of play and that will be enough to strip out even a moderately tight fastener. Make absolutely sure you're using the right ones.

I've also had luck with these in the past. I use the impact gun and push hard on the rounded top of the torx bolt and it usually twist it out.

 
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