Hi.

I stripped the bleeder valve trying to use an 11mm wrench.
Any ideas on how to remove it? The working space is quite tiny (see image).

I was considering a pair of pliers... Possibly grabbing them using a pair of vice grips or another pair of pliers (to amplify the biting force).
I'd prefer to NOT drill a hole into the bleeder valve itself (although that could be left as a last resort). "Ez-out" and "bolt-extractor" are both things I'd like to avoid.

The threads internally are OK to the best of my knowledge.

Image (3,264px × 2,448px dimension size)
- http://i.imgur.com/Eowl7Or.jpg

Okay, here's a list of ideas (some of which I've had) that have come from God knows how many forum posts from Google searching:

• Pliers
• Vice grips
• Channel lock pliers
• Pipe wrench
• Hammering on sockets
• Arc-welding a nut size one bigger (10mm would get an 11mm nut around it)
• Impact-wrench drilling it out
• Filing flat spots and using a wrench / flare nut wrench / pipe wrench / vice grips / pliers on it
• Heating it up (but highly suggested against due to poisonous gases)
• Pouring a certain kind of acid on it (though that was on a couple of Motorcycle forums)
• Replacing the entire 'wheel / brake cylinder' ($5 USD - $30 USD)
• Ez-Out / Bolt-Extractor (requires that you REMOVE the whole assembly first)
• Soaking it for 20 minutes to 240 minutes with XXX penetrating oil (not WD-40 though)
• Epoxy on a pair of vice grips / pliers on the stripped bleeder valve (my all time favorite! Made me laugh)
• Welding a screw into the bleeder valve's hole, then 'unscrewing' it with that
• Brake bleeder wrench / Line nut wrench

There might have been a few more that I'm forgetting but, this was the jist of ideas.

This post was edited by Muted on Aug 5 2013 02:37am

vicegrips and order yourself a new wheel cylinder

This post was edited by Blargfish on Aug 5 2013 03:59am

first off why did you round it off? is the bleeder not wanting to break loose or what?

if the bleeder was stuck you may want to look into the cost of just replacing that stuff

long as he can get the line back off a wheel cylinder will fix him right up. shouldnt be too expensive either.

tack a nut to it

I know u don't have a welder


but like others have said, vice grips, maybe a little heat if you need it

A new wheel cylinder would be expensive compared to going to a junk yard for a new bleeder valve.




It's a soft metal alloy on purpose so it does that to you. I don't own flare nut wrenches obviously.




Heat + Brake/Clutch fluid = Bad idea...

I ended up using a pair of metal vice grips.
It came right off. Made a video and found out my camera's microphone broke!

line wrenches are the best, but as you said u didn't have em, but u could probably rent those at autozone/parts store


and heat + fluid isn't that big of a deal as long as you arnt on it to long, I have done it tons of time, just gotta pay attention

if u knew everything why the hell did you show up in the first place....autozone brand new wheel cylinders are like 10-20 bucks each....prob time for new ones anyways.