So yesterday when i went to grease up my outdrive, I was pulling the bolt out that the excess grease drains out of. With my luck the head of the bolt breaks off. So I go to drill it out and re thread it and I get almost all the way through the bolt when my POS drill bit breaks off in the hole. So now i have a hole with a broken drill bit in it that i cant get out. It is broken off completely in the hole so i cannot get a hold on it with vice grips or anything like that. So what do i need to do to get the bit out and re thread it? Im worried im going to go do deep and hit the driveshaft which would be bad. The guy and the local marine shop said if I took my outdrive apart and pulled the drive shaft he could put it in a drill press and retap it, but i would rather not take it apart if i dont have to. So thanks for the help

Not sure I can be as helpful as the two posts before me, but can you maybe get a tig welder to the broken bolt and weld on a "T" handle to turn it out with? Other than that you will have a really hard time drilling out a broken bit with or without a press. I have used a small chisel to break up or turn out the bit if there is enough room.

hes right. if you or someone you know has a wire fed welder. you should have enough room to tack on a nail to the busted drill bit so you can turn it out.

Can someone post up how to remove the driveshaft. I have the outdrive removed and it wasnt a problem, but i have never got in to actually removing the shaft. Thanks

Search through the mudbuddy forum. Deadbird* has a thread with detailed instructions. Just don't thank him though, he gets wierd about it!!!

1) remove the prop nut, and prop.

2) remove the gear and taper lock.

3) remove the snap ring in front of the seal on the front.

4) remove the rear seal cap. oh and it is left hand thread, so rightly loosey.

5) remove the rear seal race. It is threaded on the shaft, but standard thread. Just grab it with a pair of vice grips or channel lock pliers and turn the shaft to unscrew it.

6) then press the shaft out. You can go in either direction, but I prefer to push from the rear side (where the prop goes) and pull it out of the front of the housing. It will go either way but the front race is locktited in place and can sometimes be a pain to break free (and is much easier to remove off the shaft once you have the shaft out). If you dont have a press, use a hammer and a block of wood or a brass bar so that you dont damage the threads for the prop nut.

Drill an even bigger hole.............

By the time it's said and done, he'll be able to use a BOP bolt for a plug.

Im having a hell of a time getting the rear race off the shaft...Any tricks?

Why you just didn't get a extractor set and get it out. I would have tried that before drilling it all the way out

My overflow screw actually broke off about 3/16 of an in down from the head so I can't weld anything to it. So do I have any options other than pulling the shaft and drilling it out?

let's not jack his thread. Start your own.

weld the broken bolt to the tube, drill another hole and tap it?