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Old 04-08-2014, 05:40 AM   #1
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1976 25' Tradewind
Tulsa , Oklahoma
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Broken bolt

The bottom bolt on the left side arm that attaches to the top step on my Tradewind has broken, leaving the bolt in the side of the step. The problem is that it won't come out to replace because the tread covers half of the head. Has anyone run into this problem?
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Old 04-08-2014, 06:13 AM   #2
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1981 31' Excella II
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A photo of where the bolt is would help. The worst ones for me were the ones at the very top where the arms go into the slots in the outriggers. The only way to get to those is to cut holes in the skin.

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Old 04-08-2014, 06:39 AM   #3
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I picture would help ,if the bolt is sticking out you maybe can heat the nut part and then cool it really fast with water. Then you can grasp the part of the broken bolt with a set of good vise grips pliers and remove the bolt take your time screwing it in and out (penetrating oil helps) if it's broken off flush you need to grind the bolt flush with the surface and center punch the bolt then drill the center of bolt take your time drilling go slow let the drill bit cut you should use cutting oil to lube and cool the drill bit,if you go to fast you will burn up the drill bit and it will take longer to drill (bit gets dull) and you could also break the bit in the hole remember it's a lot harder to remove a hardened steal drill bit., once you have drilled through the bolt you move up in drill bit size to around half the bolt diameter and then you use a easy out bolt extractor.don't forget to apply penetrating oil and let it soak,if the bolt is still frozen in you could try heating around the bolt and then cooling it fast with water ,if this doesn't work you maybe will have to drill to almost as large as the bolt diameter and use a tap to remove the damaged threads as long as you are centered in the hole,last resort is to drill out bolt and install helicoil(repair thread kit) you will have to buy the kit at a auto supply shop or machine shop. Good luck on the repair!
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Old 04-09-2014, 06:26 AM   #4
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1976 25' Tradewind
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I have yet figured out how to send a photo, or I would. Thanks for the advise on removing bolts.
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Old 04-09-2014, 07:15 AM   #5
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1981 31' Excella II
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If you have a place to host a photo all you have to do is post a link to it. You can use this sight to upload a photo to but I have not done that.

Perry
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Old 04-10-2014, 05:22 AM   #6
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1976 25' Tradewind
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Thanks, I'll try that sometime.
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Old 04-12-2014, 01:03 AM   #7
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1976 25' Tradewind
Tulsa , Oklahoma
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Posts: 96
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My Kindle told me one thing to "remove" photos, which I mistook for "move" photos now I lost my photo completely. I see the icon on Airforums for sending photos, it looks like a mountain snapshot. It wants a file number but I can't find my pictures file no.
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Old 04-12-2014, 01:24 AM   #8
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1976 25' Tradewind
Tulsa , Oklahoma
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I know this is boring to other people, but I managed to upload my picture on the photos page. A couple more tries and who knows I may have one by my question.
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Old 04-12-2014, 05:49 AM   #9
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It looks like you can soak it with a good penetrating oil and grab it with a vice grip and work it back and forth to get it looser and looser. Also you could get a new nut that would just slide over that stud and spot weld the inside of the nut to the stud then spray penetrating oil on it then work it back and forth until it loosens. Hopefully the stud does not break off, then you will have to drill it out and use a tap to clean out the threads.
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