Differential Pinion Shaft Lock Bolt

[dmjlambert]

I got the old one out by doing some late night mechanic work. I made my own drill guide by drilling the broken bolt through from the shank end with a 1/8 bit. I used a center punch to mark the center best I could and drilled as strait as I could. It came out pretty nice. Then I screwed that into the hole and it guided me to the center of the broken off pin with my small Ingersoll Rand air drill. Slow speed drilling, added oil to the bit and gathered shavings often. I made a little flag out of tape that I put on the drill bit so I would know how deep into the broken pin I was going. I figured I needed about 1/4 inch deep for the easy out to work. Then I used the #1 easy out with my smallest adjustable wrench, and was gentle as a lamb and no cussing because I didn't want to break that easy out bit, what a mess that would be. When it gave resistance I used a mini butane torch to heat up the bolt area, and then it eased out. The old pin is 2 inch shank and 2.25 inches total length. 5/16-18 thread. I am annoyed that it broke, but I guess these things break all the time, so I hear.