Uh Oh. Snapped Off A Hex Key In A Bolt Head.

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Lovacott

Über Member
I've only had the bike for ten days, but after a run out today, I thought I'd do a little check.

All good but the cable tension alignment lines on the 105 front mech were not exactly perfect so I grabbed a hex key and proceeded to tighten the tension screw.

A quarter turn and then "snap".

As luck would have it, the alignment / tension is now perfect but I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to make adjustments in the future?

Bloody hell....

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midlife

Guru
Can you order a new bolt ?
 

midlife

Guru
Was just thinking if you end up damaging the hex and needing to move it with something like a torx bit then a new one might be in order ?
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
HSS drill bit, small hole. Then screw in a small self tapper and pull
 
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Lovacott

Lovacott

Über Member
Was just thinking if you end up damaging the hex and needing to move it with something like a torx bit then a new one might be in order ?
Because the head is flush with the mech body, my usual go to method of cutting a slot for a flat head is out of the question (I've used that method many a time for extracting bolts with rounded off heads).
 
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Lovacott

Lovacott

Über Member
Did you get a chocolate hex key wrapped in foil for Christmas 😂 Just how much force were you trying to apply to tighten the clamp? They don’t need all that much.
It was from a decent set I've had for a few years. I was using it on the long end and as it's a cable tension adjuster, there wasn't that much resistance and I wasn't using any real leverage anyway (thumb and forefinger pressure only).

Either I'm Superman or the key was dodgy.

The snap off is so clean that the bolt head almost looks "blind".
 
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