Sub-Frame Bolt Removal - red lock-tite from factory

Working on another bike (no not a Honda, but you guys are the best on the web , so im hoping for ideas)

Anyone removed the sub-frame bolts from an aluminum frame before ? got any tips?

Im replacing my sub frame (GSXR) because the Previous owner, stripped the Allen head on one bolt, and resorted to cutting off the subframe with a hack saw and then scabbing it back together with scrap metalled carriage bolts.


I have the new sub-frame


I have drilled and removed the F'd up bolt


I now need to remove the other 3. Before I go there, there is a 50/50 chance that they have been removed before, if they have , they should come out easy, if they have not it could be a challenge.


These are held in place with red locktite from the factory, heating these bolts does absolutely nothing because the aluminum frame sinks the heat away just as fast as you apply it. (tried on the broken bolt, even after 2 min with a torch I could put my finger on the bolt and it wasn't even hot). Penetrating oil does nothing to a bolt with red locktite.


Any tips from someone who's removed them before ? I really dont want to F these up and have to drill out 3 more


Cheers

 

Purple arrow shows one of the 3 bolts to be removed. Above that you can see the scab and hack job from the PO. I have gotten that bolt out now, drilled it and used an EZ out thread extractor

 

Those top two should come out pretty easy

 

When it gets to that point, the best thing to do is have a good welder weld something to the bolt head so you can get a solid purchase on it and use something with a long lever, allen head bolts like that are shit once stuck.

 

Try a pencil torch on the bolt head perhaps, but yes the aluminum is a big heat sink. In any case, have a fresh new bit and a manual impact driver. If the hex gets stripped out, next up is a suitable Torx bit driven in. After that, well maybe time for that drill.

 

Yea, the pencil torch did nothing. My hope is to get them out without having buggering them up and having to wait 2 months for new Suzuki Bolts. (that show long it took to get the one that was bitched. should have bought 4 I guess.

In gonna try the chlorinated brake clean trick. Apparently it dissolves red-locktite ....just dont heat it up...toxic

 

A few years ago Walmart SuperTech brake cleaner had MEK in it. MEK will eat any kind of plastic and paint, would be good for loctite. I thought it was banned as a carcinogen..... chuckled when I saw some on a store shelf a coupla weeks ago.....

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/solvable-methyl-ethyl-ketone-mek-946-ml-0475884p.html#srp

 

Thanks Ray, yea I have a bottle of MEK here, but I just got them loose now. I decided to just go for broke, pulled out a 24" Johnson (breaker) bar and one quick snap and they came loose.

You know what they say "its easy to get off when you have a big Johnson " LOL. -- remember those Tshirts in the 80's. ?

 

I believe the quote is, if I had a lever long enough, I could something something, something.

Stuck bolts in aluminum frame threads are always cause for a little apprehension.

 

Excellent news! Always put your Johnson to good use, lol.
As you know, aluminum and steel can have bi-metal corrosion.. .. a wee bit of anti-seize when they go back in.

 

Yea, there was no galvanic corrosion at all, just the red locktite , Il likely use Blue when it goes back together with the new sub-frame

 

I wonder why they even call for it. Seems odd.

 

Glad this worked out for you Stray. Smacking the bolt with a nice new hex bit in a manual impact driver would be my starting point. Followed by my electric rattle gun. If the bolt head rounds out (BTDT) then you can get lucky smacking a Torx bit into the mangled head.

I watched a video on YT recently where a car guy was getting seized/snapped studs out of alloy head engines, and he MIG welded direct to the stud, the welding rod was steel specific so did not attach to the alloy, and the heat seemed to make subsequent removal easier (he just used vice-grips on the weld stub).

 

That was my suggestion. It has never failed to work.