This seems silly but I'm not sure what to do. I'm trying to remove my old throw out bearing. I have a T30 torx extended bit so I am squarely on the bolt head and for the life of me I can't loosen any of the bolts. I've tried with a screwdriver handle and moved to a ratchet. I've slipped on one and rounded it a bit. I get all my weight on it and I just can't break these free. I tried getting some heat into it but it seems to have made no difference. I've done this job once before on a different F35 trans and I don't recall having this issue before. Any tips on removing these?

 

PB blaster for a few days.

 

I got the welder out to get them

 

You had to weld another bolt onto them?? These things are in the ballpark of 7lb-ft, I know they have tread locker on them, but how are they so tight?! I don't remember them being this tight on a different transmission I did the exact same work on.

 

tread locker and easily stripped torx head. I tried welding on a bolt but i got a crappy bolt and ended up using vice grips on a bead of weld to get it off.

 

I just put the torque socket on an impact and sent it. Got lucky and they popped free without issue

 

i got very lucky with mine and managed to strip all 3 heads lmfao i just used a screwdriver and a hammer and dig into the head of the bolt and tap it counter clockwise. the total way to avoid this is to use a impact screwdriver and if she dont turn she need heat or u snap torx bit or round bolt :/

 

I had two bolts that had good heads still. So I figured I'd give it a try. My impact wrench generally takes lug nuts off with little effort. It took quite a bit but one came out. Luckily it's the hardest of the 3 to get to. The other one stripped the head. So I have two left. I'll fiddle around with seeing if I can jam a larger bit into them and get some bite for the impact. Otherwise, this weekend I'll try welding bolts on to the remaining two.

 

You can try to put the bit in and hit it with a rubber mallet or dead blow hammer. You just need to shock/break the grip. If you had an impact, it essentially does the same thing... but that's obviously a little riskier.

 

These things are a life saver. Its a must for torx bolts.

https://www.grainger.com/product/1AT...5Q7YX:20500731

 

I've been wanting one of those for a while... just not wanting to pay that much for it. Definitely a handy tool.

 

That is exactly what I should have used. I've been meaning to buy one for years... Apparently, there's a cheap Tekron one on Amazon for $20.

 

There you go USMC. Nick just solved your problem haha. Well worth the $20. Both of you need to go buy one now.

 

This search has brought me to a Craftsman one for $20 and a Pittsburgh (Harbor Freight) one for $10. Not sure why I never found them in my previous searches.

My local Lowe's has them in-stock (bonus: I get a 10% veteran discount at Lowe's).

 

So I ended up notching the bolt heads with an angle grinder, then I used the hand impact with a flathead bit on it and I got them both out without too much difficulty. Thanks for all the advice everyone!

 

i didnt look at this thread for a few days but holyy **** i didnt mean to hit it wit a impact wrench haha i meant wit a impact driver like the one they linked..... omg dude ur gonna have to do wat i said wit the screwdriver and just dig into the bolt haha editing cuz i didnt read that u got them out but u basically did my method lol

 

Anyone know the bolts needed or used? I wanna grab some replacement bolts for the clutch swap

 

The bolts are GM part number 90541173B. A number of online stores sell them as well as your local dealer. I picked mine up here:

https://www.thatgmpartsguy.com/p-mu3...olts-90541173b

You have to order 3 as they come individually wrapped.

 

I'll try to pull one of mine and measure it. The last TOB change that I did, I didn't use the stock bolts (because they strip out easily), but instead opted for stainless socket cap screws, which you can grab at any Lowe's/Home Depot - usually for less than the cost of 1 bolt from GM. I want to say they were something like M6-1.00 x 15... but don't trust that just yet.

 

Why do you speculate that they used female torx bolts for these if they can so easily be stripped? I would have imagined a standard hex bolt head or a male torx head would have both been better. Perhaps tooling during manufacturing for installing the TOB?

 

My guess is that they used a soft metal so that if they're installed wrong (cross-threaded), it's the bolt that fails; but that's entirely just a guess. I wondered the same thing with the special blue bolts that they used for the S/C pulley in the GM Stage 2 kits for LSJ's... those bolts had a special anti-tamper head and would strip out SUPER easily. At least in that case, the reasoning is so it's easier to know when to deny warranty because of modification.