Seven Ways to Remove a Broken Fastener

If you spend any appreciable amount time working on, well, anything that involves bolts or screws, you will eventually be faced with the dilemma of a broken fastener. It happens to the best of us, even when we are super careful with our tools. Luckily, there are several methods you can use to remedy the situation and move on to more enjoyable tasks, such as anything else, literally.

The first few methods are basically brute force methods, using a hammer and a variety of implements to force the screw or bolt to spin free. These methods are less than ideal and will take quite some time to get the job done, so they are likely going to be your last resort if nothing else works.

You can weld a nut to the bolt if it’s large enough to work with, a simple and effective solution that works almost every time, as long as you take care not to weld the nut itself to the surface surrounding the broken fastener. There are also special extractors, called EZ-Out Extractors, which work like reverse-threaded screws that dig into the broken fastener and grab hold, then back it out using a screwdriver, drill or even vise grip pliers. Extractors, like the welded on nut, work very well most of the time, as long as there is enough material for them to dig into and get good traction.

There is always the option to just drill out the broken bolt and clean the hole, but that will almost certainly result in having to use a larger bolt, and rethreading the larger hole, if that matters in your particular application.

Broken fasteners definitely suck, but they don’t have to ruin your day. Just take a deep breath, watch this video for which method you want to use, and get it out of there so you can get on with the job.