Stripped bolt (not sure if this goes here, think we need a board for car stuff)

[Jacoby Quinn]

Anyone got any advice on how to remove a stripped Hex head bolt? I CAN drill through it, but it's a specialty bolt for my brakes and I don't know where to get another. It's recessed so I probably can't weld it off, any advice? It's a 250cc moped and I already have the brake assembly off the rotor so it's easy acess, but the lines are still attached so I can't take it anywhere without taking the entire moped

[redyoshi49q]

The Life Problems & Help board is intended for problems of a more personal nature; for instance, threads for seeking advice on relationship or family problems would be fitting there.  This thread somewhat rode the line between General Non-Furry Discussion and Tech Talk, so I moved it to the latter.

[Storm Fox]

Sometimes it's possible to get a torx bit to bite in the socket of a rounded out hex bolt.

[Varg the wanderer]

This is an easy-out. It will either be your best friend or your worse enemy, but that depends on you.

First drill a hole in the center of your bolt using a drill bit about the same size as the end of your easy-out. I don't know how big your bolt is, but your easy-out size at the business end will need to be a good bit smaller, but not tiny by comparison. The hole needs to be deep enough that the sides of the easy-out meet the edge of the hole, and then a little bit further. The easy-out will bite in, and you don't want it to bottom out in the hole.

One you have a good hole, gently give the easy-out a couple of taps into the hole. Using either a tap handle (preferred) or a vice grip (less preferred, but usually what's handy) carefully twist the bolt back out of the hole. You WILL need to replace the bolt, but if its stripped you should do that anyway. An auto parts store might be able to help you, or possibly order it from someplace like rockauto.com

I hope this helps!

[Old Rabbit]

 Most hardware or auto parts stores should have easyouts too.

Do your best to drill the hole precisely in the center. I would recommend
using a center punch to mark a staring point, and use a smaller drill bit to
start the hole.   

One other thing use care, if you feel the easyout spring as you attempt to back
out the bolt use a larger easyout. Breaking a easyout off in the bolt will make your
problem worse.
Buy a good quality easyout. Cheap ones may be brittle or soft.

Hope that's helpful and good luck.