Broken axle bolts

[jaynjeep]

Originally Posted by Gaden

I went through this exact situation last spring. All of my bolts were broken off flush to the differential housing with nothing to grab onto. Compounding the problem is the loc-tite used by the factory, damn good stuff. Although I think Sam's idea is a great one, I have no welder, so I used an easy out. Hey, no problem, the first one I tried broke loose and came right out. I broke three easy outs on the next one, actually broke a brand new handle, and rounded off the remaining supply. I'm told heat will release the loc-tite, but I was afraid to get the Al. that hot. I ended up drilling and tapping the broken bolts. Voila, turned them in to break them loose and then backed them out.
I replaced the axle seals and bearings while I was at it and I had one beveled bearing that was chewed up, so make sure you check that. You should also consider adding some kind of brace to prevent this happening again. Kind of funny, but when I bought my tractor, I saw the design of the mount as a potential problem and even had it in my head what to do, but didn't. Oh, well... here's my design;
I went to a shop I used to work for and had them burn them out to the tune of $48, I don't know if I got a discount or not, I may have, but I thought that price was very good. You can also opt for a Sammac design sold at extreme, I believe, but they are about twice that price.

Nice looking braces!