hi guys! i've got a stripped exhaust port stud on my 2009 nightster. i own a factory service manual, and have no problem removing the exhaust pipe and header. how would a professional remove the stud? cheers from montana

 

You will need to remove the head, there is no way around this in order to do it correctly. If it's stripped, you're in for some fun. If there is any thread at all, try and run 2 nuts as far down as possible then tighten them up against EACH OTHER then remove stud 2) if you have a welder tack a nut on use this to back out the stud 3) If you're not that lucky, you can try with some vice grips, but there's hardly any room for a socket/crows foot.

Either way...good luck to you!

 

I am not a professional, but if you could grab the stud with a pair of vice grips or trying to get on two nuts, using one as a jam nut. The stud will just screw out of the cylinder head. Maybe heating it up with a torch would help.

 

Ah. Two trains of thought here: first if there is no TIG rig and welder available first thing you want to do is break any bond that has been created between the steel stud and the aluminum. You have an '09 so it "shouldn't" be too bad. Take a 1/2" bolt of significant length and align it with the end of the stud, and give it a small whack or two with a decent sized hammer; this is similar to what you'd do to loosen a stuck lug nut on your car or truck. This "whack" will compress anything inbetween the male and female threads, hopefully making removal easier once you've got a hold of the end of the stud, via stud remover/wratchet or by vise grip.

Method #2. I've removed 50+ broken studs from engine blocks and of both steel and aluminum cylinder heads, some below the surface with a TIG/MIG machine, a bolt, and some patience. Here's the deal:

Sharpen a 45º point on the end of a bolt of the very same diameter as the size you are removing...position it on the end of the stud like you're going to use it as a center punch, aligned properly on the same axis. Tack weld the bolt into position, then complete the weld. The pointed end of the bolt will make it easy to get 100% penetration through to the bottom side of the stud if you cannot get access below it due to it's position or other things in the way that can't be moved. When finished welding, allow to cool to touch. Tap once on the end of the bolt head, then using a socket wrench slowly try removing the bolt; you will mostlikely feel some resistance at first, so go back and forth. With each turn to the left you should begin to gradually feel it getting looser and looser...if not, turn as far to the left as you feel comfortable with, then give the head of the bolt another whack with the hammer. This again will compress anything that has loosed up between the male and female threads, making removal easier. Continue going back and forth and you will feel it getting easier and easier and soon enough you will be able to spin it out by hand.

The reason this works so well is because the heat from welding travels down the stud into the threads, causing them to expand. This expansion compresses anything [rust, corrosion, etc] between the threads. However, trying to remove the stud while it's hot and all expanded together from the heat of welding will result in difficulties, so that is why you must wait for the stud/bolt to cool...because as it cools, it will shrink, and now, being dimensionally smaller, it will come out with ease, ahhhhh...

=8^)

 

After you get the stud out, remember to coat the portion of the stud that goes into the head w/some kind of anti-seize/coppercoat - this will help delay the onset of the galvanic corrosion that exists any time two dissimilar metals are in contact with one another.

 

Stud remover?

 

DrewBone is dead nuts on. If you can do the 2 nuts thing as mentioned Kontankerous suggested don't forget to smack it and do a heat cycle as DrewBone suggested. I've never done it with a sportster exhaust stud, but have in other applications.

 

The factory stud uses an interference fit thread. In other words, it's designed to bind up in the head. It does a damn fine job of it too.

Due to the interference fit thread, it's not going to break loose and come out easily. Getting it to move initially may be harder than unscrewing it the rest of the way, but generally not that much. It's going to fight you the whole way out, because that's what it's designed to do.

Generally speaking, it's about 50-50 whether or not a old stud can be successfully unscrewed and removed. Maybe less. It breaks off at least as often as it unscrews, even using heat. Especially if it's old and the metal has fatigued from heat cycles and stress.

There's a drill fixture you can buy that mounts to the good stud and guides the drill bit through the bad stud. This is the most effective way to fix the problem. It can be done on-bike if you have straight access to the stud with the drill bit.

If you try to drill the stud without the fixture, the drill bit will wander off the steel stud and into the softer aluminum and make a mess.

If you try to use an easy-out, it will almost certainly break off and then you have a huge mess, as the only thing that's going to remove a broken off easy out is very expensive carbide tooling and you're liable to break a few of them in the process. This is the most common mistake people make. Don't even attempt it.

When you replace the stud, you can either get an aftermarket stud that's not interference fit threaded, or you can go back the factory stud. The factory stud will fight you on the way in, too, albeit not generally as bad. The advantage of course is that you can thereafter remove and replace the exhaust all you want without worrying about the stud unscrewing.

 

they make a tool just for removing studs...not saying it will work but they do make one...here is what one looks like...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-1-...r#ht_375wt_934

 

Interesting, I had no knowledge of this. Why would the MOCO do such a thing on a stud that could so easily be trashed? So the dealerships could charge the customer for the cost of a new jug [plus labor] because of the failure or destruction of a $3 part? Sheeeeesh.

I've removed broken studs from steel turbocharger housings on large 6 cylinder diesel engines that create a helluva lot more higher temps and endure way more heat cycles than a Harley will ever see yet these manufacturers do not see fit to use "interference fit" threads on their studs. I've also "repaired" the female threads on steel turbo housings after a number of overzealous mechanics couldn't drill a hole straight if their life depended on it, trying to remove or drill out a broken stud! I would get handed all this kind of $hit at my last job. Anyway, I would set up the housing in a vertical mill and overdrill the original messed up threaded hole to a bolt size twice the diameter of the original stud, then bottom tapped it, screwed in the appropriate larger bolt, machined it flush with the mounting surface, TIG'd the "plug" to the housing, relocated the center of the original stud, then drilled and bottom tapped it to the original [metric] size to accept a stock replacement stud. Dun.

I've saved customers thousands of dollars removing broken bolts and studs that would have otherwise required replacement of major parts, the disassembly of the top of many engines [lots of $$ in labor], or the machining of new threads...unfortunately all I got out of it was a large collection of broken studs and bolts with new bolts TIG and MIG welded onto them, sitting atop my TIG machine gathering dust!

So believe me, an educated consumer can really save himself some bucks if they know a few things about metallurgy, welding, and metalworking.

=8^)