Stripped hex nut

[mmathen]

90 Lumina, 3.1. Got a free car from girlfriend's brother. Trying to replace driver's side exterior door latch. Hex nuts to get into door panel stripped. Any good suggestions on getting these out? All three are stripped. I am guessing little bro already tried to replace it. First post here, but already got great advice off here.

[cadgear]

Don't let any of our seasoned officers hear me say this, but if you don't want to chunk money into a bite bit, grab a dremel/similar tool and slice a slot into the head. Get a flathead screwdriver bit and a wrench/ratchet, and carefully work it loose. It does the job, 90% of the time, but is by far not approved by my Service Manager. Of course, the bolt gets tossed anyway...

[jeffcoslacker]

Originally Posted by cadgear

Don't let any of our seasoned officers hear me say this, but if you don't want to chunk money into a bite bit, grab a dremel/similar tool and slice a slot into the head. Get a flathead screwdriver bit and a wrench/ratchet, and carefully work it loose. It does the job, 90% of the time, but is by far not approved by my Service Manager. Of course, the bolt gets tossed anyway...

A good idea, all I can add is that once you notch the head, a hand impact tool works great to bust it loose fast without tearing it up any more...

Work on motorcycles long enough, you come to apprieciate the hand impact....

Sometimes if it's hard to get into, I'll just ding out a big notch in one side of the head with a chisel, then use a dull one in the notch with a hammer to turn the bolt...doesn't seem like it should work but usually does...

[dwalmop]

I LOVE my hand impact!