Relative Something

I would like to fix the problem that occurred when I was pulling the ABI grader/rake behind the Grizzly and came upon an immovable buried rock. The two bolts holding the hitch plate to the ATV frame sheared, leaving me to finish that round pen job by hand.

Now that project has been completed and I am left with a mechanical challenge of getting the stubs of the two threaded bolts out of the frame. Easy-peesy. Just get one of those “As Seen on TV” EZ-Out bits and spin the darn things right out.

Or not.

I am guessing that the bolts were a hardened steel and I haven’t had any luck trying to drill them. The challenge is compounded by the rust that is holding the threads tight.

One thing that Dad always said, after a stint as a repairman on Caterpillar tractors, “If that didn’t work, get a bigger hammer.”

I think I’m also going to need a bigger drill and different bits, and maybe a welder, too.

I’m hesitant to figure out what the shear strength of those bolts was, because I’d rather not know how far beyond the rated towing force I was during my carefree spin pulling that grader around the perimeter of the pen.

Instead, I will just remember next time to proceed in smaller increments and not try to dig to full depth right from the get-go.

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