Ford CMP 8cwt Rear Springs

[gordon]

... if you have the bolt with a grease fitting hole in it - what us Dodge people call 'headless bolts'

Because of the ledges mentioned before, and when sometimes the whole centre section of the bolt is displaced (wear on one bit allows the opposing face to be pushed down - looks really odd to see.) the trick with all these bolts is to turn them when pulling.

The Dodge grease fitting threads start off as NPT (National Pipe Taper) which is basically the same size as UNF but with a taper on it. This means you can screw a UNF bolt in to pull it, but normally it grips on so few threads the threading gives up before the bolt moves.

So - the trick? Go and buy the biggest reverse screw tap extractor you can find that will fit in the hole. I have one somewhere that has a 3/8" square drive on one end, and the tapered section varies from about 3/16" to about 1/2".

I just hammer this in the grease fitting hole and start turning anti-clockwise on the square drive. I've never yet had a headless bolt that wouldn't turn using this tool, and I've never yet had one turn that wouldn't draw out neatly once it had turned a few times.

No use at all if you just have a slot and no grease fitting hole, but if you've got a grease fitting hole the reverse thread tap extractor is the way to go.

Gordon