Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi All,

I seemed to have broken a tap in the worst place. 2005 F150 with a 5.4 motor right side exhaust manifold stud hole in the head. It's about a half inch in the hole. My question can I stick weld to the tap and build up to a nut to turn it out? Thanks for any suggestions.

Terry

Aluminum head? This will help...

I wouldn't "stick" it, if it's buried that deep. This calls for a TIG buildup.

Not saying you can't do it with stick, but you have so many opportunities for inclusions so it will just break again when you twist on it.

Good luck,

Steve S

Yes aluminum head. The hole is going to need a helicoil so not so worried about the threads, Just need to get the tap out.

Seems I saw a guy post on some website that he stuffed 4 cotter pins down the tap flutes and turned one out.

I've never done it, but it seems like small nails would work on bigger ones as well.

Good Luck

Edit: Found it, post #13
http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?36 ... stick-arc)

Thanks Dave for that link. I'll give that a try.

Terry,
There's a company named Walton that makes broken tap extractors. They work fairly well. They have four hardened pins that go down into the flutes and then you can usually work them out. We buy them from MSC and I believe Grainger also carries them. I think Irwin has a set but I haven't used theirs, so I can't speak to effectiveness though.

Len

Thanks Len I'll check them out.

Not sure if trying this on aluminum is a good idea, but I've seen broken taps removed from steel by shattering them.

Can't get in there to even hit it with anything. I ordered a tool to try and turn it out. See what happens when it gets here.

Thanks everyone for all the tips. I really appreciate it.

YAHOO......!!!!!!Got it out. The Walton tap extractor worked great. Took about 5 minutes to get it out. Thanks everyone you all really helped.

OK next question the hole is pretty much mucked up. I'm going to drill it and tap to 1/2 x13 for a threaded insert that I like Problem I can only get a Drexel in there any suggestions?

Terry W wrote:YAHOO......!!!!!!Got it out. The Walton tap extractor worked great. Took about 5 minutes to get it out. Thanks everyone you all really helped.

OK next question the hole is pretty much mucked up. I'm going to drill it and tap to 1/2 x13 for a threaded insert that I like Problem I can only get a Drexel in there any suggestions?

Good news man

Will a small drill fit if you cut off a drill bit to only the length you need?

Or a right angle drill with the shorter bit?

MinnesotaDave's right...

I've cut drill bits down quite short. Figure the length you need from the end of the chuck to the bottom of the hole, and add the total depth of the chuck at that drill size. You'll want a cut-down bit to hit the bottom of the chuck to be sure the jaws will grip the flutes squarely to cut the hole squarely.

There's nothing quite like a right-angle air drill with a 1/2" chuck to accompish the "seemingly impossible"...

Steve S

I cut down a bit. Tomorrow I'll use the old manifold as a guide and drill the hole. Hopefully I'll be able to tap this without breaking the tap. It's a pretty big tap so I'm not expecting any problems. Plus I only have to go in about a 1/2 inch.

Terry W wrote:I cut down a bit. Tomorrow I'll use the old manifold as a guide and drill the hole. Hopefully I'll be able to tap this without breaking the tap. It's a pretty big tap so I'm not expecting any problems. Plus I only have to go in about a 1/2 inch.

I have a stud drilling guide that was made for the Porsche 911... similar to:
The bolt in the center is to hold centering guides:

My tool has two screws at an angle to go into the port to center the bushing over the hole. The different drill bushings are for the drill, tap and heli-coil tap

Very Nice set up.

Update in case anyone was wondering how things turned out. There was two pieces of metal in the hole. One from the tap and one from the stud. Took me a few hours with some dental drill bits to remove the metal from the stud. Worked blind most of the time using a mirror and feel. Retapped to a 9/16 - 12 make a plug from a 9/16 bolt and them tapped that to an M8 1.25 same size as the studs for the exhaust manifold.I have a small lathe. Buttoned everything up today and crossed my fingers. Everything seems to be holding and a nice quiet exhaust. That exhaust has been leaking for years. It just got really loud in the last couple of weeks.

I want to thank everyone again for all the help you guys were great. I will play this forward.

Terry W

glad to hear things worked out for you