- In an ideal world bolts would turn almost effortlessly.
In and out, in and out.
Until we torque them up to just the required amount,
with a torque wrench.
Unfortunately though, this is not an ideal world,
and bolts will quite often end up looking like that.
And when you come to undo them, you stick your Allen key in,
and the bolthead just rounds straight out.
In this case, we actually have a plan B,
'cause there's a flat headed screwdriver fitting.
But unfortunately the bolts are in too tight,
and that just rounds out as well.
So, how are we gonna remove our stuck and rounded bolts?
(light funky music)
We need a two-pronged attack.
Firstly, we need to come up with some kind of hack
to deal with the fact that our tool no longer fits
in the head of our bolt.
And then, then we also need some way of loosening
the threads of the bolt.
Because more often than not the reason you'll have stripped
it in the first place was actually 'cause it's too stiff,
or too seized just to undo.
(light funky music)
Let's deal with the tool side of things, shall we?
We gotta try this hack first, from GCN viewer Rueben Tiow,
who suggested that you can put a rubber band,
over the head of the bolt, and then you put the tool
through the rubber band,
and the rubber increases the friction on the tool,
and hopefully fills in the gaps,
and therefore you can undo your bolt.
Unfortunately in this instance, with my super seized up
cleat bolts and incredibly rounded bolt heads,
it's not actually working.
But, I would definitely suggest that you give this one a try
because I heard from other sources as well,
that it does work.
(light funky music)
Next up, we're gonna try a Torx key.
Now this is a little bit random, I know,
but we've had loads of you suggesting it.
And I've also heard really good things about it.
Basically a Torx key is a six-pointed star,
as opposed to a hexagon.
So the slightly different shape can mean that you get
a little bit more purchase with the bolt.
However, you are gonna need to increase the size
of the Torx key, relative to the Allen key.
So in this case, we've got three mil Allen bolt,
a T-15 that would correspond to it size-wise.
So you have to use a slightly bigger size, the T-20.
And then obviously it doesn't fit,
so you will need to whack it in there with a hammer.
Then, it should grip the bolt,
and you'll hopefully be able to turn it.
Clearly, there is quite a big risk here.
Particularly damaging your Torx key.
Although, I've never actually done it in the couple of times
that I've tried this hack before,
and all the people I've spoken to.
But, the risk is there.
So you need to weigh up the cost of potentially trashing
your Torx key, with the benefit of removing said bolt.
(light funky music)
Now before we take things up a notch and involve power tools
we need to get back to actually trying to loosen
the threads of the bolt.
If you take a trip to your local tool store,
you will see that seized bolts are a universal problem.
And therefore, there are a whole raft
of potential solutions out there.
What we wanna look for to begin with though,
is penetrating oil.
Now that takes many different forms,
and I have no idea honestly which works the best.
But, the principle tends to be the same.
You spray it on and then you leave it.
And then you spray some more on, and you leave it.
Potentially overnight.
Hopefully over time the penetrating oil will seep
into the threads of the bolt and free things up.
You can also get products that promise even more,
like Shock & Unlock spray, whereby you actually have
a freezing agent added to the penetrating oil,
and that then hopefully contracts the metal,
and then loosens it up.
Now hopefully that combination of penetrating oil,
and then hack forward slash barging with a tool
will get your seized and stripped bolt out.
However, if it doesn't we're still not out of options.
We need to involve a drill.
(drill whirring)
Although this is the point at which I then take my bike,
or shoe, down to my local bike shop,
although I can admittedly now see their hearts
visibly sinking when I walk through the door.
But then, if you want to do it yourself,
what you're gonna need to do is secure the part very tightly
in a vise and then drill very carefully,
with a drill bit that's the same size as the shaft
of the bolt, down through the head of the bolt,
at which point whatever the part
it's securing will come loose.
But then if you wanna reuse the part,
you're gonna need to keep drilling down through the threads
until the bolt is clean gone and then re-tap the threads.
It's not an impossible task,
not by any stretch of the imagination.
But it is a little bit tricky,
and it is quite time consuming.
You will notice that I still have a cleat,
firmly, unfortunately, attached to the bottom of my shoe,
that I'm desperate to reuse.
So there is one last option available in this specific
instance that I have resorted to in the past.
Because a cleat is plastic, you can take a hacksaw,
cut through it, and actually pull the cleat apart.
And that leaves little bolts dangling around,
underneath your carbon sole.
I then took a file and filed flat edges onto my bolt head
so I could get extra purchase with a set of mole grips,
and then got 'em right off.
That too, was a time consuming job.
But, there we go, that's the price you pay
for not adequately preparing the threads of your bolt,
before putting them in in the first place.
(light funky music)
You got three options at your disposal.
Grease, thread lock and anti-seize.
Now of the three, grease is probably the one
you're most likely to have at home.
And it is perfectly adequate for most situations.
If you want a bit more information on these three,
and indeed how to use them though,
we've got a full video on that subject.
It's pretty useful, click just down there to watch that one.
Do also make sure that you subscribe to GCN.
It's very simple and it's free, you just click on the globe.
And then one last video to suggest for you.
Seeing as you've spent the morning unsuccessfully trying to
remove a cleat make sure you get it right in the first place
that is how you fit cleats to your shoes.