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My carbon frame uses those bolt on cable clamps. I am trying to fit a new brake but when I try to unbolt two of the cable clamps, the bolts are just spinning. It appears the threaded inserts in the frame have come loose. Any ideas how I might get the clamps to release without damaging the frame (the warranty has expired).
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Tough one. You'll have to cut away the clamp part, get a grip on the threaded insert, and "hopefully" undo the bolt.
Then..new threaded insert or glue the old one back in.
It's probably a "rivnut", once you've got the bolt out they can be tightened using the correct tool, a decent LBS will probably have one.
No need to damage the clamp bit.
Drill the head of the bolt so it pings off
Remove the cable clamp
Hopefully then the rest of the bolt will undo, if not there is normally a little bit of the rivnut sticking out you can grip carefully and undo the stud
As above with seeing if the rivnut can be tightened up okay
If not then all is not lost and you can try and bond it back in or have it drilled out carefully and a new one fitted. To bond it you could mount the frame so the rivnut points straight down. Try and inject some epoxy carefully through the hole at an angle rotating the syringe needle so it hopefully spreads out around the back of the rivnut. Then apply a nice chamfer of the epoxy on the outside and allow to harden. Then clean the threads with a tap. I'd use bonding is a last resort though.
Oh and be careful with those braided hoses rubbing on the frame.
Thanks for the advice Andyl, I'll give that a try.
The braided hose is coming off, but there is helicopter tape on most of the frame anyway.
Erm... why not just separate the hose from the brake and pull it through?
Drill the head of the bolt so it pings off
But the bolt is spinning?
But the bolt is spinning?
I knew you were going to say that.
It will be fine, just don't be cack handed and put loads of pressure on the drill bit. If it starts to spin (unlikely) then stop immediately and use use a slighlty bigger drill with light pressure to take the edges off the allen key hex. Then go back to the smaller drill. If it's an M5 screw I'd use a 5mm drill to start with - maybe using a 5.5 or 6mm if it's not coming off. Do not go very deep - just to the bottom of the head and try and pry the head off gently before drilling more.
Another way to do it is if you have a dremel type multitool with a small griding stone you can use to grind away the head.
Oh and do it in shorts bursts as you don't want any heat build up which will wreck the epoxy around the rivnut.
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Stop pansying about just cut the head off and knock the rest inside
New nutsert or
rivet it back on
Not brain surgery
Take it to lbs your drowning
If you're lucky it might just be possible to wedge a flat blade screwdriver between the two halves of clamp to apply some load to the face of the rivnut. Depends why It's spinning. Loose in the frame or seized to the bolt.