Stripped a 20 year old dryer drum bolt and it turned into a 3 hour ordeal

Got a call for a loud dryer in a basement last Tuesday. Figured it was just a idler pulley, easy swap. But when I went to pull the drum, one of the damn bolts was completely stripped from the factory. Had to drill it out slow with a left hand bit, and of course it snapped the extractor. Finally got it with a torx bit hammered in, but that simple job took me 3 hours instead of 45 minutes. Anyone else run into factory bolts that strip like butter on older models?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana552d ago

You know, I used to think factory bolts were pretty reliable but after reading about your stripped drum bolt, that REALLY changed my mind. I had a similar thing happen with a 15 year old Whirlpool where the bolt was so soft it might as well been made of putty. It turned a simple fix into a whole afternoon of cursing and drilling. Now I always keep a set of torx bits and a good extractor in my bag because you just never know.

jordangibson2d ago

My buddy actually had the exact same thing happen with a Samsung washer a couple years back. He called me all frustrated because the drum bolt stripped out and he spent hours trying to get it loose with a regular socket. Ended up having to drill the whole thing out and tap new threads, which is a pain if you don't have the right tools. So yeah, @diana55, I totally get where you're coming from on keeping those torx bits and extractors handy.