Ok so I am in the process of removing my water pump annnnd the top bolt snapped. What are my options here?

 

finish pulling pump . grab whats left with knipex pliers if that don't work get a reverse drill bit and have at it .

 

So it's OK to just pull the pump until it comes off at this point?

 

Yes, without the head on the bolt the pump should come right off. Then hopefully you've got enough meat on the bolt to get it out.

Make sure to block off the cavity in the block if you end up drilling. You definitely don't want little chunks of metal floating around in your coolant passages!

 

Ok I got the pump off and this is what it looks like now. It doesn't look like there will be much room for get a drill in there. I have a pretty decent pair of pliers that I tried using with no luck. Should I pick up a pair of knipex pliers as suggested or try an EZ out bolt extractor?

 

Don't you need to get a drill on it to be able to use an easy-out?

See if you can get a couple nuts on what's left of the bolt and then turn the inner nut against the outer nut to get it off.

Use plenty of PB Blaster on it beforehand.

Is there enough room to get a torch in there to heat it up (without damaging anything)?

Maybe you can get a dremel in and make some notches to get a wrench on it...

 

thats nasty bro, you will only get one go at this, otherwise you will probably have to dismantle enough of the front of your truck to have straight ahead access for a drill bit

I would try the double-nut method...you can skim a couple to make them "thinner" if there isnt enough meat on the busted thread...(or buy half nuts)

Heat would probably be essential

when the 2 nuts are very tight against each other, work it back & forth ever so slowly, dont just try to unwind it

 

At least if you do need to dismantle the front, you've already got the radiator drained..

 

Would this work better? Heat might be a little difficult... guess I will need to buy a torch. I'm going to try the double nut method first since it seems like a pretty cheap option. I do have dremel tool so I might try that if the double nut method doesn't work.

 

Lots of good advice here, but if it's me I would skip straight to the heat.

Here's the thing... you already snapped the bolt once. If you snap it off again (this time snapped flush) you will have opened up a whole new can of worms.

If you're going to be spending any time with this XJ, you will need a torch again in the future... just sayin.

 

So just heat and pliers? Would something like this work https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bernzoma...1479/300870607?

 

It's worth a try maybe, but after heating it up make sure the bolt has cooled down before you put much torque on it.

Something similar to this would work way better:

https://www.harborfreight.com/weldin...kit-98958.html

 

The oxy acetylene kit is the best tool for the job. However, realize that you will also need to get your hands on a bottle of each and then you will have to research how to properly use them. Improper use of an oxy acetylene setup can prove extremely dangerous. You may wish to find some Map-pro, although I'm not sure if it will get hot enough.

DO NOT heat the busted fastener. What you want to do is heat the area around the fastener, starting somewhat away from the threaded hole and slowly working toward it. What you are doing is working on the molecular level by A) Expanding the metal that the fastener is seized into (this is why you heat the area away from the hole and then work inward. The heated area on the perimeter gives the molecules a place to move to) and B) Breaking the bond of the rust/corrosion that exists between the hole and the fastener.

What you don't want to do is heat soak the fastener and then reef on it with a pair of pliers as the heated fastener could be too weak to bear the strain and could bust again.

Get the area around the hole hot as hell and then apply pressure in both directions (loosen/tighten) until you get some movement. If after a few minutes of this treatment you get no movement, you need to stop and let the whole area air cool before trying again. This is because it won't take too long for the fastener to soak heat from the surrounding metal.

Did I miss anything?

 

if you have a welder you can thread a nut on it and then weld it then back it out with a little heat

 

Godspeed.