How do I get windshield bracket bolts off?

[Kiwi TJ]

I went to harbor freight bought a couple of cheep torx inserted then heated as mentioned after screw head got hot used a snap on torx socket on hand impact one good pop and they came right out

Awesome ...winner winner chicken dinner :campeon:

 

[bruceco]

I had the same problem.Broke a hardened torx. I then used a hand impact.Same result. Then I read about the heat and it worked.I used a small propane torch for about 15 seconds in the centre and they came out easy after the loctite let go.
As for jeeps it is my first one. I never had much faith in chrysler after doing r&d work for them at a shop I worked at.
Everything I touch also seems to turn to s-——-t.Really great engineering from frames with no drains to torx not needed in a lot of areas.
Please don't give them the benefit of a doubt by calling chrysler designers engineers.
Chrysler is lucky jeep owners are in love with there jeeps.Most companies would have gone belly up with that kind of engineering.
They seem to have a lucrative market and don't care.
Sorry if I have offended anyone on the forum.
You guys have been very helpful.

 

[gg1]

Heat. Period. You can pass heat into the bolt by heating a torx bit placed into the bolt and heating it long enough with a heat gun or torch for the heat to travel down into the bolt to its threads where it will melt the Loctite and release the bolt. Then it will come out fairly easily and without damage. Heat. As CodaMan also suggested above.

Thanks for this tip. I will be removing more of these later and will use heat if needed.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Thanks for this tip. I will be removing more of these later and will use heat if needed.

You can plan on heat being needed. There's no 'maybe' about the fact the factory installed those bolts with the type of Loctite that requires heat to loosen.

 

[Tdool]

Mine either stripped or broke. I found it was best to drill out the center a bit and then used those extractor bits. Worked great. But don't use the end of the extractor bit that drills it out. Us an actual drill bit a little smaller then the extractor side actually bites in hard and it is then easy to get out.

I was installing a light bar mount so it had its own replacement Bolts. but I also just bought a dozen replacement bolts off Amazon incase i need them somewhere else in the future as these bolts are used in other places as well

 

[limitz]

Resurrecting this thread since there were a few helpful suggestions here, but ended up doing something slightly different.

These bolts are definitely super tight, even with heat applied. Painted over and loctited in. Definitely didn't want to strip the head here.

Rubber mallet was a great call. Tapping the torx bit into the head really helps break the paint layer loose. Heat is still required for the loctite, but I used a soldering iron set to 900F, and heated up each bolt for a few minutes. Felt more controlled than a propane torch, and I'm sure I would have bubbled the paint.

Each bolt came off pretty cleanly after that, but still required a decent amount of force to break the loctite bond.

 

[Terry from Texas]

These work well for me when I have a stripped bolt. Topec 25Pcs Screw Extractor Set,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YBWNCZV/?tag=wranglerorg-20