Anyone ever encounter this before?
 

Somehow it seems a bolt sheared off connecting the axle. Apparently this can happen if bolts get loose and one by one loosen until one is left and breaks off. Now my question is, has anyone gotten a bolt out?

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The bolts seem to be made out of very hardened metal. Attempting to use drill and use a bolt extractor barely even makes a dent.

If this has happened to you, how did the broken-off piece get out? Searched and found just one other person that had this problem. Thanks!

Dang were you driving when this happened? It hasn't happened to me, I check the torque on them occasionally. It looks like it sheared off near the tip as if it had almost worked its way out, I'm amazed it didn't shear others off. I would think the tip should be easy to get out, it can't be in there very tight. Not sure what tool you would use...sorry.

There is no tension on the threads so it will come out easily. Use a Dremel with thin cutting disk and cut a small grove in the top the the bolt then use a flat blade screw driver to back it out.

I will certainly try this tomorrow. Sounds like good advice.

A recomendetion I picked up in the forum and worked well for me ( not on an axle bolt), use Irwin cobalt drill bits. They are amazing.
I got the The left spiral with the extraction tool.
Most chances the bit will remove the bolt when you will go one size up.

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/41712-axle-falling-off.html

Happened to me. Not sure what the cause was. Stopped at a light and about to take off when I heard a 'clunk'. Very scary.

This is what happened to me. Seems to be the textbook example of axle problems. Interestingly enough, I barely touched the throttle.

Use new bolts with Loctite medium blue. The oem bolts are grade 10.9

I have not had this particular incident happen to me-yet, but I have broken many bolts and one method that works well (depending on the surrounding metal/material and flammables) is to weld a nut onto the broken bolt and back it out.

In this situation the the bolt (or whats left of it) is probably not seized- so the need to get the bolt real hot is not important. The method should still work just by tacking a nut onto the sheared remains of the bolt.

I use needle nose vice grips and a nut small enough that the hole will not overhang the bolt- clean the area with a non-flammable and wire brush- hold the nut over the bolt and tack it in place (two people may make the job easier) while holding it- position the nut so you can give it a partial turn without taking the vice grips off- take off the vice grips and finish with a ratchet- never use your bare hands....or you can but you will only do it once.

Just did it the other day on a water pump bolt on my BMW- took like 2 minutes.

Got it out!

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Thanks a ton Jager, I'm paypaling you a beer. ;)

so you guys wit the dangling axles (LOL) what sort of mileage?

Woo Hoo! Glad you got it out Kenny!

If you ask, my car has 81,000 miles. However, I think this problem only occurs if grease gets in the threads of the bolts. I noticed when I pulled out the bolts they were caked with thick grease- the loctite didn't even have a chance! I went to a Ft. Worth Porsche dealer and am ordering all new bolts.