Driling Out Damper Rod Bolt

[Vincent]

I'm about to attempt to strip my forks and swap the internals over for the second time. The first time I tried, even though they had been undone about 3 months back, one of the damper rod bolts rounded off and I ended sticking the forks back on so I could use the bike.

So, this time, if I can't manage to jam a torx socket in there to get it undone, I'm going to have a go at drilling the head off.
Has anyone done this and failed? It'd be good to know if it's a hardened bolt or any other issues. I know I'll have to be careful with the facing on the fork leg

TIA

Stripping bike now....................
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Space Is Deep

[Bezzer]

The bolts are nothing special, I've done a couple in the past, most are M8 so a 7.5/8mm bit should be ideal. A least with an allen head you can almost guarantee you're drilling in the centre.
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[stinkwheel]

No worries. Done it myself several times too. The stub screws out rediculously easily with a set of mole grips afterwards.

You might need to order in a new bolt as they are sometimes a shoulder bolt with a very specific depth of shoulder. All depends on the bike I suppose.

Ditto the comment on the self-centering, you can pretty much go for the same size drill as the bolt diameter.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Vincent]

Ah, thanks guys Just doing it now, got a whole spare set of forks so new screw no probs.
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Space Is Deep

[Vincent]

I thought it was going to give me some grief but after going through loads of (useless), drills, got there in the end:-

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/Drewskovitch/P8201741.jpg

I've got some Maxton internals to go in them to match the shock, can't wait to give it a go

Must get some new bloody drills
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Space Is Deep