Plastic plug broke roof-rail installation

[machmike]

Long story short I made an attempt last winter when it was about -22 deg F and the top shattered into a million pieces leaving the stem in the hole.. Fast forward i'm installing my rack and i cannot get that friggin nub out. All of the other plugs came out without issue in warmer weather.

i was thinking of taking a drill bit to it, but that is last resort.

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Waterndirt]

I'd use heat, with caution. Moderately heat a small screw driver with a torch and depress into plug center. Let screw driver cool a couple minutes. Try to wiggle it out. I'm throwing darts here....

 

[machmike]

I'd use heat, with caution. Moderately heat a small screw driver with a torch and depress into plug center. Let screw driver cool a couple minutes. Try to wiggle it out. I'm throwing darts here....

I thought about heat, but was worried about the paint. I may take a punch and see if I can break it up.

 

[toddjb122]

I like @Waterndirt 's idea. Small screwdriver... melt the darn thing in there. I'd try that first. Cheap and easy. Heat the screwdriver (nowhere near your paint) then tap it into the plug gently. ?

I broke a couple of them and bought screw extractors. (inexpensive to try) but they didn't work. In the end, I got out what I could but running a tap through cleaned it all out.

 

[Waterndirt]

What about pushing it farther down/ in? I can't remember what the area looks like so forgive me if that's not an option.

 

[machmike]

• First I'm going to super glue my needle nose pliers (closed onto the plug) and give it a mighty heave.
• After that I may try and take some canned air to freeze it up and shatter it with a punch.
• If those fail... I will try some heat.

 

[machmike]

OK i got it.

Method #1 worked well. Dab of superglue on the nose of pliers, wait 2 minutes...mighty heave and it popped out. I nearly fell off my ladder, but I had a baby mattress, and multiple large dog pillows over the grass behind me to cover any fall backwards.

 

[Waterndirt]

Nice work.

 

[DenverLR4]

Same problem this summer when installing my Voyager Rack. Several I could get with needle nose, but a couple I had to drill out with a bit sized smaller than the threads of the roof mount sockets. This thinned out the stem and allowed me to grab the remaining threaded strips and pull them out.

FYI there is no where to push them through - all you'll do is make the hole shorter and make it harder to tighten down roof mount bolts.

 

[Frank8]

Hot melt glue? The commercial, strong stuff

Frank