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Stripped AN3 bolt

cwilkins

Active Member
I pulled my left tank and sent it to Weep No More to have it resealed. When installing the AN3 bolts on the spar I think I may have stripped one. Any suggestions on how to fix it?
 
If you have access you can use a center punch and punch the very center of the bolt, then drill the head off with a 3/16'' bit. Be careful not to drill into the spar. Once you have it drilled to the depth of the bolt head, you should be able to tap it off with a brass punch. That should allow you to remove the tank and replace the nutplate.

I had to do this with a bolt on the tail that somehow stripped on a nut. Luckily I was able to remove it without damage to anything and replace it.

This isnt anything anyone taught me, its just what worked for me in my situation.
 
Stripped the bolt head or threads?

If the head is stripped, there are some sockets that thread on a damaged bolt head called a bolt extractor. Home Depot, Lowe?s, and Amazon sell them.

As for the threads, you could try a thread chaser but it is not likely to work on a -3 bolt since the threads are so small to begin with.
 
If the bolt won't start, throw it in the garbage. Run an 8-32 tap through the nutplate. Install a new bolt. It worked for me.
 
AN3 is 10-32, but the tap through the nutplate isn't the best solution by most accounts I suspect. Replacing the nutplate and identifying and solving the source of the massive over torque or mis-alignment required to strip those threads would be prudent.
 
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And before installing the nut plate make sure the bolt will start into the nut plate by hand so after installed no surprises.
I?m not the smartest man
 
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