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Anyone here broken off a rack-mount bolt? Have remedy?

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Anyone here broken off a rack-mount bolt? Have remedy?

Old 11-29-22, 01:40 PM
  #26  
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I have never broken a seatpost bolt, but I have had to get them tight enough that I worried about it. On a couple of my bikes I cut a slot into the end of the seatpost bolt so that if it broke I could use a tiny screwdriver to try to get it back out. But I do not tighten rack bolts that much (use removable locktight instead) so I have not cut slots into the ends of any rack bolts.
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Old 11-29-22, 01:58 PM
  #27  
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I had that happen once when I tried to tap paint with a screw. Nowdays I just use taps if the frame is heavily painted.

In the end I just drilled it out. The empty screw shell and drill bit did a bit of a dance and spin inside the hole but the threads lasted for years afterward. And if the threads do strip one can always use a thread repair coil.
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Old 11-29-22, 03:35 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
On a couple of my bikes I cut a slot into the end of the seatpost bolt so that if it broke I could use a tiny screwdriver to try to get it back out.
Great idea! I recently broke a seatpost bolt on the last day of a tour. When I finally took the collar to a LBS it was able to get it out, but the threads of the collar appeared to get damaged in the process. Ended up buying a new collar. It was only $20, and the damaged one was over 11 years old, so not a huge loss. But your idea sounds great should you need to make a repair on the fly.
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Old 11-29-22, 05:23 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by indyfabz
Great idea! I recently broke a seatpost bolt on the last day of a tour. ....
I used a cutoff wheel on a Dremel tool, almost anything you can think of will make a much wider slot than that. But maybe a hacksaw would not be too bad.

If I was to try a hacksaw, I would start by cutting a slot in a nut, then thread the bolt in a bit so that the slot in the nut holds the saw blade centered where I want it on the bolt. Most seatpost bolts are M6, but my Lynskey is M5.
.
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Old 11-29-22, 06:28 PM
  #30  
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Find a machinist that likes beer.
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Old 12-16-22, 09:04 PM
  #31  
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Well, it cost me $200 to have it fixed (plus $30 for "handling" of the online payment - errrg!). The broken-off piece is still somewhere in the frame, but, I've not heard any rattling. Importantly, everything looks good and is back to working order.
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Old 12-17-22, 08:11 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Nyah
Well, it cost me $200 to have it fixed (plus $30 for "handling" of the online payment - errrg!). The broken-off piece is still somewhere in the frame, but, I've not heard any rattling. Importantly, everything looks good and is back to working order.
Thanks for the update.
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Old 12-20-22, 08:25 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by Nyah
Well, it cost me $200 to have it fixed (plus $30 for "handling" of the online payment - errrg!). The broken-off piece is still somewhere in the frame, but, I've not heard any rattling. Importantly, everything looks good and is back to working order.
Where did you have this done, at a bike shop? A machine shop?
A 30 buck handling fee seems highly unusual, and 200 to this uninformed observer seems like a lot.

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Old 12-20-22, 10:48 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Nyah
Well, it cost me $200 to have it fixed (plus $30 for "handling" of the online payment - errrg!). The broken-off piece is still somewhere in the frame, but, I've not heard any rattling. Importantly, everything looks good and is back to working order.
Say whuuht?? I was imagining a bolt broken off in a seatstay braze-on. One hour minimum labor at your LBS, with a coffee from around the corner to move up in the schedule, at worst. How did this turn into a $230 fix and something (bolt piece) is rattling around inside the frame?
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Old 12-23-22, 10:33 PM
  #35  
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It was done by someone who specializes in frame repair. $150/hour. Considering that I didn't have to get it re-powdercoated to cover up any heat-damage, I am OK with the $200 cost. Asking me to pay via an internet service was lame, yes. However, he also saved me 25 miles drive x4, by picking it up and dropping it back off to my local.

This job was not possible for the LBS w/a screw-extractor (they did try). The bolt probably had to be carefully chiseled out. The threads definitely had to be cleaned up, because I'd already seen beforehand that they were knackered.

As I said previously, no, the broken-off piece is NOT rattling around and thus not a problem. It's a CrMo frame, so, how you going to get the piece out? The guy would've charged me for the time spent doing that.
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Old 12-24-22, 02:35 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Nyah
It was done by someone who specializes in frame repair. $150/hour. Considering that I didn't have to get it re-powdercoated to cover up any heat-damage, I am OK with the $200 cost. Asking me to pay via an internet service was lame, yes. However, he also saved me 25 miles drive x4, by picking it up and dropping it back off to my local.

This job was not possible for the LBS w/a screw-extractor (they did try). The bolt probably had to be carefully chiseled out. The threads definitely had to be cleaned up, because I'd already seen beforehand that they were knackered.

As I said previously, no, the broken-off piece is NOT rattling around and thus not a problem. It's a CrMo frame, so, how you going to get the piece out? The guy would've charged me for the time spent doing that.
That price seems reasonable for that sort of tricky repair. There's always a chance extracting a bolt totals the frame so you need to take it extra slow.

However if I'm imagining this correctly, there actually shouldn't be anything rattling inside the frame. Typically those seatstay holes use a braze on that goes through the frame tube and out the other side, so there's no connection to the inside of the frame itself. Much easier the align the brazeon when it goes through the tube.

But also if there was something inside the frame you'd hear it. So chances are there isn't.
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Old 12-24-22, 06:40 AM
  #37  
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I use rack bolts that extend through the hole so that if they break, there is something to grab hold of on the other side.

A well equipped machine shop will have an EDM that can burn the broken piece right out. They mostly use them to remove broken taps.
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Old 12-24-22, 08:32 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Nyah
It was done by someone who specializes in frame repair. $150/hour. Considering that I didn't have to get it re-powdercoated to cover up any heat-damage, I am OK with the $200 cost. Asking me to pay via an internet service was lame, yes. However, he also saved me 25 miles drive x4, by picking it up and dropping it back off to my local.

This job was not possible for the LBS w/a screw-extractor (they did try). The bolt probably had to be carefully chiseled out. The threads definitely had to be cleaned up, because I'd already seen beforehand that they were knackered.

As I said previously, no, the broken-off piece is NOT rattling around and thus not a problem. It's a CrMo frame, so, how you going to get the piece out? The guy would've charged me for the time spent doing that.
thanks for details, especially that there was a 100 mile drive in there as well.
Explains things well.
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