I broke the head off the bolt that holds my shifter [foot] lever to my newly installed forward controls. The bolt still bridges the little gap so I can't get anything in there to pry the lever apart to remove it. I guess I could try to take a hammer to it and force the lever off but there ain't a whole helluva lot of room to work there. Any advice?


EDITED:

A little patience and tenacity goes a long way. This, I'm learning the more I do stuff on the bike. I managed to grab the tiniest bit of the front end of the bolt to continue the "righty tighty" enough to where I could grab it with vice grips and work the bolt out the front end to where I could pry the lever apart and pull it off the shaft. A $.39 stop at the hardware store on the way to work this morning gave me a nice replacement bolt to slip in there. It took a frickin' hour and a 1/2, but, I'm all set.

Whiff

 

deep breath and a beer...I don't maybe drill it out?

 

If you have to hit it, use a mallet, not a hammer. Can you drill a small hole in the center of the bolt and install an ez out? I'm not familiar with forward controlls, so I just can;'t see it in my mind.

Good Luck.

 

I think the beer is what got me in the situation in the first place. [8D]

The way the lever is positioned, I can't a good shot at the bolt other than the front end of it. Maybe I could get it on the lift and line it up properly, however, I think the primary is going to get in the way of the drill.

 

Take the lever off the bike and put it in a vice, then go with an easy out.

 

That's kind of my problem. It's torqued down enough that I can't get it off the end of the shaft.

Whiff

 

Can you get a hacksaw in the slot to cut the bolt?

 

Aaaaah...good idea. I may be able to. I'll check when I get home.

Whiff

 

I don't think I'd hammer or pry the shifter off. I think you will need to get that busted bolt out because the shifter shaft has a depression in it that the bolt runs through preventing the lever from sliding off the shaft. I believe you will need to drill and easy-out the bolt out of there before you can remove the lever from the shaft. If you can not get the busted bolt out, a worst-case scenerio is you might have to cut the lever off with a dremmel and replace it. Hopefully someone has a better suggestion????

 

Start the bike and let it vibrate out!

Seriously, easy-outs will probably be your best bet.

Is there any of the bolt sticking up that you could Dremel a slot in it to get a big screwdriver on it?

Good luck...broken bolts suck!