How do I remove an outside threaded tube sheared off in my pressure washer?
 

Hi,

The soap dispenser fitting that screws into the pressure washer sheared/tore off, presumably from soap residue eating at it since last year.

I am now left w the task of removing the remainder of the threaded portion of the fitting which is hollow, threaded on the outside, and the edge of the tube is inside the surface of the hole such that i cannot grasp it with needle nose pliers. I've tried

--opening right angle needle nose pliers inside the hole but with no success.
--a screw extractor, which will not grab onto the inner surface

Do I need to find some random object that is tubular and just the right diameter to press fit into the tube?

Also, I believe it is "stuck" to the power washer threads from the soap reacting with the brass. Ir has already been deluged w water from when it broke and i don't believe it is rusted so i don't think PB Blaster will help.

Ideas?

A little heat and maybe a large, flat blade screwdriver stuck inside it? I don't know. I'm trying to picture it in my head, but since the brain surgeries, my cognitive thinking is not that great.

will try. Thank you.

Keep em coming folks...

Charlie, you beat me to it man.

Easy out, or bolt extracter, whatever you want to call them.


25 PIECE SCREW EXTRACTOR SET SEXS25 | Matco Tools

I have tried those bolt extractors, have never got it to work for me.

Hey Derf, maybe you can soak it in some CLR first. Calcium, lime, rust remover. Maybe that will help to loosen the old soap. I don't know for sure, just speculating.

Charlie, you sneaky devil. I will try the CLR on the fitting tomorrow, although the friggin port points towards the floor so I may just need to saturate part of a rag and shove it up there in the hopes that some drains down and into the threads.

Or I could stop putting off the inevitable and completely drain the gas tank so I can flip the machine upside down have said port face up. Actually I don't know for a fact if the tank lid leaks or not.

One way to find out.

DTruck -- I tried an extractor but it did not want to bite into the surface. However , now that I think back on it, part of the problem is likely that I have one extractor that's too big (tries to grab near outer edge), and one that is too small (and therefore useless). Maybe I'll do a CLR soak while I go shopping for the appropriate sized extractor that should grip it further inside the tube.

All this after jamming every flat blade screwdriver I have that marginally fits.

I saw a suggestion to use a saw blade to cut the inner piece in two locations so that you can pry the rest out or have it fall out if not somehow bonded to the threads

Did you try taking a straight edge razor to it? Just enough at the lip to maybe brake a piece upwards enough to grab it with some needle nose pliers?

If you can get a hack saw blade inside, you can indeed cut the threads enough to get a small, flat blade screwdrive into the groove and start prying it out, derf. I'd cut four notches if it were me. That way you're less likely to do much damage and it will come out a lot easier once you get the first piece out.