Irwin Bolt Grip Bolt Extractor Set

I am sure that everyone has had one of those days... You go to do something that is relatively easy, yet important, and all hell breaks loose. Well that was me the other day with my bike. Thank God I had this bolt extractor set.

I bought an old 1981 Honda Gold Wing GL1100 and I have been working on it for the last few months trying to get her up and running.

The other day I was going to take it easy and just flush out the fuel bowls on the four carburetors.

Sounds easy enough doesn't it? Well, for three out of the four carbs, it was. But my number three carb on the right hand side wanted to pitch a fit and get all ugly with me.

For the most part, all I had to do was take a long flat head screwdriver and remove the fuel bowl plug screws, let the old gas drain out, hit it with some carb cleaner, and put the screw back in each bowl. This was not the case for the number three carb. The slot that the screwdriver went into was all stripped out and would not turn.

Being the genius that I am, I grabbed my dremel tool, put in a cutting blade, and tried to cut a new groove into the screw so that my screw driver could get a grip. The only problem was, every time it hit the screw, it would bounce around and I ended up making it worse.

Now I had a screw with two messed up screw slots and no way to fix it. Or so I thought...

Fortunately, I had this bolt extractor set in my tool box. I wish I would have thought about this tool first, but I was working with a big headed screw and 'bolt' extractor didn't cross my mind.

Luckily for me, the smallest extractor fit over the head of the screw. I put my extender on it and gave it a few good taps with my hammer to seat it, and then I put the wrench on it and backed it out.

After I got it out, I kind of wished that I hadn't. It was in pretty sad shape and I wasn't about to put it back in, unfortunately, I didn't have a screw to put back in it. I hit three Honda shops to find one, but none of them had the screw I needed. The only place I could find an OEM fuel bowl screw for my bike was eBay for 6 bucks.

My old Goldwing was down for an additional three days due to shipping delays. After that, I was able to put it in and finish up the so called "easy job" I started days before.

I am glad that I had this rounded off bolt extractor set. It was a lot easier than drilling it out and trying to remove it with a tap set. Though an easy out set may have suited the job a bit better than the bolt extractor I used, I didn't have one at the time.

My old Goldwing was down for an additional three days due to shipping delays.

When it finally came in, I was able to put the missing screw back in and finish up the so called "easy job" I started days before.

I am glad that I had this rounded off bolt extractor set. It was a lot easier than drilling it out and trying to remove it with a tap set. Though an easy out set may have suited the job a bit better than the bolt extractor I used, I didn't have one at the time.

Not that this has anything more to do with the bolt extractor, but I thought I would show you a picture of my Gl1100 now that she is done. Her name is Infidel... It took me about four months to get her done. Mostly due to cost delays.

She is up and running now and boy can she go.

The other picture is the screw that I had to replace on the carb. It is at the bottom center of the carb intake.