I am going to have to drill out some water bottle cage screws and insert helicoil inserts. I found a website that carries all sorts of repair kits, but I don’t know what size to get. Presumably I can drill it out and insert the coil and wind up with a standard water bottle cage thread.
Any insight or tips on this process would be appreciated. I don’t think I have ever done this, though I think I have seen it done many moons ago.
Take the bolt that screws into the frame and go to the hardware store nut section and find out what size thread you need. Do this by finding the nut that screws onto the bolt and record the nuts thread. That is the size of the helicoil you need to buy. Use a little oil when drilling out the old bolt and use a cobalt drill bit. The Helicoil set will tell you what size drill bit to buy.
If this is an Alum. or carbon frame then it most likely has Rivnuts for waterbottle cages. I’m pretty sure you want be able to Heli-coil those. If it does use Riv-nuts you will need to drill the head off with a 1/4" drill bit and get new Rivnuts and put in the frame. There are a lot of shops that can do this, it takes a special tool to install them or you can do it with a bolt and 2 nuts to act as a tightner.
This is a Trek Y foil carbon bike with a big aluminum bracked mounted on the frame to hold the water bottle cage. Seems like I should just be able to drill out the old screws and retap and use a helicoil.
On the other hand, I have never done this.
Next time, I promise to grease every thread, not just most of them.
Art can this alum bracket be removed? sounds like it might be to thin to take a heli coil,you could go to the next larger screw then the only thing to but is a drill and tap, or could you have a new alum plate made?P.S. i am a machinist,let me know if i can help Randall
It is a pretty big bracket. I don’t think it would be problem to drill it out, except for the fact that there is very little access room, and it will be very easy to not get it aligned correctly. It would be best to use a drill press, but tough to fit it in with 7 inches of clearance.
You wouldn’t be anyway near Florida, would you? I am sure you would do this way better than I.
Randall, naturally any Indian mail is by definition suspicious. You really should become a Gator.
What if I bang a piece of wood on top of the bracket to get an impression of the screw heads, drill the wood at those impressions to make a guide for a drill, use that guide to drill a hole into the screws, then tap and install a left handed bolt into the hole. Do you think that might get them out? Where would I find such a tap and bolt?