The Minor Changes That Make The GripEdge Broken Bolt Extractors Unique
Written by Luis Montes Updated On February 28, 2025
In most forums, a popular solution for removing a broken bolt is to weld a nut onto the broken fastener. If the bolt has snapped below the surface, the recommended approach is to drill the broken bolt, fill the center with weld, and then tack on a nut.
The above solution requires good skills with a welder, or hiring a skilled operator, to avoid damaging the threads, as adamt1388 and DDW, members of forums “The Hull Truth” and “Trawler” claim.
On the contrary, a broken bolt extractor is the intended tool, doesn’t require skills, and the only thing you must be aware of is to set the drill straight, at the very least.
However, most broken bolt extractors have design flaws. Thus, there’s a considerable chance of failure.
The GripEdge broken bolt extractors combine, change, and improve the features of standard broken bolt extractors, allowing you to remove seized, broken fasteners efficiently, and, in some cases, without the need to apply heat or penetrating oil, as you can see in the following video:
Let’s review how each design decision contributes to the outstanding performance of the GripEdge broken bolt extractors.
Minor Changes That Make a Big Difference
Unlike standard spiral-flute extractors, GripEdge broken bolt extractors feature a non-tapered, straight-flute design.
Spiral extractors sometimes make things worse, by wedging and expanding the broken fastener against the parent threads—especially in softer materials—locking it in harder.
Besides, tapered extractors only bite at the top leading edge. Everything down from the contact point won’t engage the fastener.
The non-tapered shape of the GripEdge extractors, combined with their straight flutes, provides additional benefits for the tool.
First, it allows them to engage the inner side of the fastener completely—without the need to taper them too deeply—and can even work at a slight angle, providing more grip without expanding the fastener.
Second, when tapping down the extractors, the stresses act along the flutes, not at an angle, which can damage them.
By the way, by tapping down the extractor, we don’t mean to do it gently. The GripEdge broken bolt extractors are designed to be hammered down for good, as shown below.
Third, it makes the GripEdge broken bolt extractors a bi-directional bolt removal tool.
The bi-directional geometry helps break some of the rust, loosening seized fasteners more easily.
The ability to drive a fastener back and forth also lets you tighten it and put it back if needed.
Suppose you’re working in the field, trying to remove a damaged fastener from a piece of equipment, and you don’t have a replacement on hand. Use the GripEdge extractor to reinstall the same fastener and keep running the machine until you get a new one.
Something else we want to mention is the shape of the extractor's back.
Unlike most extractors, which have a square shape at the back, the GripEdge broken bolt extractors feature a hexagonal shape.
The hex shape allows you to use a ratchet or breaker bar with a socket to drive the fastener (avoid using an impact because excess torque increases the risk of snapping the extractor), eliminating the need for a pair of pliers and reducing inefficiency, especially in tight spaces.
But there’s one more feature that we want to break down in the next section: the G-FORS.
A Feature That Breaks the Mold
G-FORS stands for GripEdge Foreign Object Removal System. It’s a simple mechanism that, along with the straight flutes, allows you to separate the broken fastener from the extractor easily, without having to throw it in a vise.
The sleeve has threads on its inner side that engage with the mid-section of the extractor so that you can drive its tip inside the sleeve. The sleeve will eventually stop the fastener, while the straight flutes will continue to slide right off the broken fastener.
But the G-FORS also serves as a stabilizer. You can spin it against the equipment you are trying to remove the fastener from, so the extractor isn’t wobbly or angled when using it.
Plus, if you need to heat a broken bolt that’s seized, the G-FORS lets you drive the extractor out, apply heat to the fastener, and retap the extractor without exposing it to the torch, which could damage it.
Conclusion
The GripEdge broken bolt extractors are the intended tool for effectively solving the problem of broken fasteners.
They don’t require any special skills, unlike using a welder, and you won't have the uncertainty of whether they’ll work, as with spiral flute extractors.
The sum of the GripEdge broken bolt extractor features—non-tapered shape, straight flutes, hex drive, hammer resistant—makes most of the work for you, and the 14-PC set even includes left-handed drills—that, if lucky, could grab and back the broken fastener out before you even use the extractor— and a nice chart so you know exactly which to use.
There’s still one more feature common to the GripEdge tools we didn’t mention: the Rounding Prevention Technology (RPT). Our article “Avoid Stripping Seized Hex Bolts With the GripEdge RPT Hex Bit Sockets” breaks down the RPT groundbreaking technology.