You could try replacing it.

 

Oh boy you're in bad shape if you did what I think you did.


To clarify:

Did you strip the bolt head? round off the hex on the head?

OR

Did you break the bolt?

OR

Did you strip out the threads in the ring gear carrier?

 

I'm going with the first one...

 

i rounded the bolt

 

Time to break out the vice grips, me thinks. Never tried to use them on that particular bolt but have had success in the past on brake caliper bolts and water pump bolts. Don't use a cheap set they will just bend and flex. Might try to get a needle nose style set.

 

You can also get a small nut[LOL], set it on top of stripped head, weld it up in the center, and out she comes! been there done that.

 

That is a good trick.

Also could drill a hole and use an easy out tool. This is difficult due to the location though. I had to use a 90 degree on my drill.

When mine broke it was down on the threaded section. I ended up grind and cutting the end of the differential cross pin until I had enough of the bolt shaft exposed. From there I was able to rotate the now exposed bolt with a pick until it came out. When I bought the replacement cross pin it came with the bolt.

Heating should help loosen up the locktite. Care must be taken as the differential is filled with gear oil.

 

pretty common for the either the bolt to break off in the pin or the head to round off. Thats why it should be replaced everytime.

Get a good set of vice grips and go to work, be careful about metal shavings falling into the gears, be sure to pull them clean off and replace the fluid.

You'll need a new pinion shaft lock bolt, ford PN D8BZ-4241-B. I paid $1.83 at the dealership, comes with thread locker already applied. I think the torque on it is 15-30 lbs

 

Use a "twist" socket. Works very well for such things.

Something like this:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.../catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=64888&group_ID=16597&store=&dir=catalog

 

Take my advice easy outs sometimes spell nightmares when they end up breaking in the hole you drilled for them. I had break like that on me once took me a whole day of drilling and hammering to remove it lesson learned no more easy outs. Good Luck!

 

The bolt is still tight on there and you will not be able to gripp the bolt very well, use heat and take care of the thread locker, heat will make the job much much easier. also in the future use a 6 point 8mm wrench instead of a 12 point, your less likely to round off the heads of those small diff pin bolts.

 

Broke one in my Crown vic a few years back when I was swapping to a t-lok from the stock open. I just broke out the die grinder/cut off wheel and went to town since the dif was an open and wasnt gonna get reused. Really a bummer of a location for a bolt to break/round off.

FWIW, I use my Craftsman ratchet wrench for that little guy every time since then (3 times maybe?) and it works perfectly. Little bit tough to break loose with the stubby 8mm wrench, but you won't be rounding it off!

 

I used a hammer and punch to turn mine. Came out quite easily. (the head was rounded)

 

break out the air chissel, hahaahha, thats what I did, lol, what a mess in the end

 

I like this idea !!!

 

Go down to sears and pick up an 8mm 6 point WRENCH; then throw the 12 point away. The 12 pt one is a great way to round the bolt head. When I was frequenting the junkyards in the local area, sometimes I could make a buck or two by selling that 6 point wrench to someone who was trying to pull an axle or diff. I used to keep 3 or 4 in the tool box. I still keep one. They come in handy sometimes

Seriously, I've broken the sears 6 point wrench off before it rounded the diff bolt head. They're one of the few that offer a 6 pt in such a small wrench size. Matco has them too but they're special order and quite a bit more money...and longer than the sears one. Off topic-but the Sears 17mm six point wrench-cut in half-is THE tool to use when changing oil in a Yamaha V star 650, 1100, Road Stars and Warrior 1700

 

I'd go for the welding of a nut to the bolt as your best bet.

 

Sears 6 point 8mm wrench is great.. or if you're stuck and have a 6 point 1/4" drive socket and ratchet you can take off the carrier bearing cap and get in to it that way.. so if you break the head off the pin how do you get the rest of the pin out of the cross pin without destroying the carrier? can you hit the big cross pin and shear that bolt pin off and get it out in pieces...roy

 

Yes. The pin is hardened, and will shear right off when you smack that crossbolt hard enough with a hammer and punch. From there you can just punch out the remains of the pin from both sides, I don't think it goes into a blind hole.

 

Some Sears wrenches have a sort of bevel around the boxed end (not sure how I noticed it?) I have a snap-on wrench that I use everytime that is flat.