I bought a set of Irwin bolt extractors (the tapered, fluted, left-hand thread things where you drill a hole into the bolt stub and insert the extractor and crank it lefty loosey) a while ago...so far I have broken 3 of the 5, the others are going in the trash. Not recommended. Maybe other brands are better, but somehow I doubt it.

I've had mixed luck with bolt extractors. Larger sizes with good access to the bolt seems to help. The left hand drill bits are the best though. Often times loosening up the broken bolt while drilling it out, then the extractor works well.

Yeah you have to only use the good brand one, My dad thought me to never use the cheap ones, they'll break every time.
I'm not sure what brand he gets, he gets them through his work(bis jet engine mechanic)

I broke a Craftsman extractor on a pretty large bolt. Getting the pieces of extractor out of the still stuck bolt was a huge PITA.

I'll skip them next time.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />Andre

Yeah, that's the real problem. If they could be drilled out then I wouldn't mind so much, but that hardened steel is very difficult to drill.

The second and third one I broke were on a bolt I had drilled all the way through, so I was able to punch the broken pieces out from behind, otherwise I wouldn't have even tried the extractors.

Then I drilled the hole out bigger and tried the largest extractor...it didn't break but I twisted the head of it a little and the wrench got a groove in it before I gave up...I'm just gonna drill it all out and through-bolt it.

If the bolt/stud is above the surface,Get a set of the craftsman extractors that look like nuts with reverse threads. They actually dig into the stud and it comes right out. No drilling, no breaking bits. I've found with this type of tool you get what you pay for.

I'm not saying mine won't end up like yours but I have extracted many a bolt with my set of Irwins and so far so good. How long is a while ago ?

I bought 'em a few months ago...didn't use them until recently. All I can say is my he-man strength overwhelmed them before they did diddly to get the bolts out...every time.

Irwin is generally a cut above the cheap no-name stuff, which is why I bought them. Oh well.