Alpha z rack vs Marina Piling

[whiteflash watersports]

So I mixed my rack with a piling at a marina and the rack lost. I have the samson racks and mounts on my 2012 Alpha z. The bolt holding it on was severely bent. I had to use a oscillating tool and carbide blade to cut the bolt to get if off.

This left me with a cut bolt that is still in the hole and will not budge.

My thought is can I abandon this hole and retap another one about an inch below it for the rack? Use same bolt and everything. Or is the tower section where the bolt for the rack is reinforced or solid or what?

Then I will grind down old bolt fill the hole sand and paint.

If none of that would work any suggestions are welcome because I will be a one rack boat.

[bsreid]

That sucks! Can you drill out the bolt with an extractor kit?

[KoolAid]

bsreid,
My guess is that it is a grade 5 bolt or even possibly a grade 8. If its an 8, I don't see it getting drilled out and extracted.

whiteflash,
No other thick area near it to drill and tap into that I am aware of. I will look into though just in case for you.

If you can get a hold of it with enough force it will thread out because it is in aluminum. I think your threads are toast anyway so plan on a helicoil to be installed to get a rack back mounted.

Be careful if you are thinking about using heat. That tower is cast aluminum and a quick cool down could crack it.

[Zackdogg]

You might be able to weld a bolt, or socket to it, that you’d be able to get enough torque on to get it out. I’ve had luck a couple of times with that, but like Koolaid said, be real careful with the heat. Snap on makes an extractor that I’ve had good luck with, it starts with a reverse thread drill bit, but I’d be pretty surprised if you got it out with an extractor.

That’s a rough one bro! Good luck with it!!


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[sandm]

wow. that sucks.... I remember installing the racks on my '12 tige, that bolt was a BEAR to get in and no way it was coming out of one side for me.

good luck and post up what the solution ends up being. sure it'll happen to others.
me, I'd probably try to drill it out knowing it might take a half dozen drill bits just to make sure there's a sharp edge cutting. then helicoil. maybe a dremel with the flexible extension and lots of carbide bits and many hours/beers.

[whiteflash watersports]

Will try an extractor - do not see that working. I am to afraid to try to weld anything because of the heat reasons. If I was to try and drill it out any advice on type of bit? Size and material? Then a helicoil? Not familiar with that. Any advice?

I was/am really hoping I can tap a new hole just underneath it. Hopefully KoolAid will have good news on that front.

If none of that works will be adding surf pockets to the Bimini I guess. We still wakeboard on the regular so to lose two wakeboard racks and a surfboard hurts. Already have the double wake and single surf on the other side.

[UNSTUCK]

If this was mine (and because I’m a welder/fabricator) I would weld a nut large enough to slip over the portion of the stud still sticking out past the tower. If those bolts come out hard when they are in good shape, this will be your only chance to unscrew it. I wouldn’t be worried about passing enough heat into the AL to change its metallurgy negatively. Heating the bolt then letting it fully cool will only help free it from the tower as it will shrink a little.
If you’re taking a hard pass on welding, you’ll need to use a die grinder to start your hold in the very center of the bolt. Most hardened bolts are not through hardened so you should be able to drill the center well enough with good bits. I would not bother using an extractor unless you can grab that part that’s sticking out and turn it with a wrench. You do not want to break an extractor off in there.
Once you have it drilled to the threads see if you can unscrew the threads by tapping them out with a chisel and hammer. If you can, see if you can clean the threads up with a tap.

If the threads are junk you’ll need to install a threaded insert. Don’t use a helicoil. It’s basically a threaded cylinder inside and out. You oversized the hole then tap it for the outside threads of the insert. Screw in the insert with lock tite and you’re ready to install a new, original size bolt. Helicoils are generally much weaker and look more like a coil spring, but the same idea.

[Bamer]

Could you screw on a nut, then fill the void inside the nut where the missing part of bolt should be with an epoxy like JB weld? This should secure nut to bolt. Let it cure and try to back it out using nut? Maybe spray some wd40 into threads in tower a few minutes before attempting to removing bolt.

Would have to be careful not to get any epoxy on threads in tower...


Even if this fails, I’d suspect you’d still be able to weld a nut on......


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[whiteflash watersports]

So to report back the good news!!!!! I took a grinder to flatten the bolt as much as possible to be able to get a bit on it. Wanted to try to drill and tap. That did not work. So I went back to the oscillator and was able to cut a flat spot. Destroyed three carbide blades. Was bale to flatten pretty well and I also shaved down the aluminum in the tower around the hole a little to see if I could get it to loosen at all.

This did loosen the bolt and I was able to tp a small hole. Three drill bits later, the third bit broke off in it. I thought oh F&*#!! Screwed. However, from all the working of it was definitely looser. I was able to loosen with pliers. Then was able to get needle nose on there and about 2 hours of patience and a can of corrosion x lubricant able to back it out. Success - part 1.

Now to clean up the hole. The hole was in surprisingly good shape. I cleaned it and was able to reattach my rack with a new bolt and away I go. Went out this weekend Sat and Sun each day for about 6 hours each day wakeboarding, surfing, cruising and all is well. Checked it a few times each day out and at the end and is tight as can be. Didn't loosen at all each day. So I am pleased with the outcome and displeased with the limited options if this had failed.

Pheww to say the least. Dodged major bullet and cant imagine what that would do to resale.

[sandm]

congrats on the fix. sure a lot of 4 letter words were part of it..... glad it wasn't worse.