grant130•2mo agoTop Commenter

Question about a stripped bolt on a Cessna 172 flap track

Had a flap track bolt on a 172 that was rounded off pretty good during a 100-hour inspection last Thursday. The owner had tried a home fix with the wrong tool. Ended up using a bolt extractor set and a lot of patience, but it ate up about two hours of my day. What's your go-to method for dealing with a stubborn, stripped bolt in a tight spot like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

david1762mo ago

Grab the blue wrench. Seriously, a good set of those spiral flute extractors is the only thing that works for me when someone else has already chewed up the head. If it's really bad, I'll weld a nut on there for extra grip, but that's not always an option in a tight spot. Two hours sounds about right for that kind of mess.

jesse_thomas272mo ago

Had a bolt snap off flush last week. Drilled a small pilot hole, hammered in a torx bit, and it came right out.

the_wesley2mo ago

Oh man, the WELDED NUT is a last resort miracle. I had a caliper bracket bolt that was just a round nub, totally hopeless. Got a tiny nut on there with the MIG, let it cool, and it turned out smooth. Felt like a total win after fighting it. Those spiral extractors are gold too, but you gotta drill dead center or it's game over.