Nasty Screw Removal

[Taz]

If you can get the screw to back out enough to use drill chuck to attach to head of screw, You can attach drill, put in reverse to remove Screw. If you can't back screw out at all due to stripped head you may have to remove enough wood to get drill chuck on screw head and proceed as above. Sure beats the way I used to do it with pliers or vice grips. ..[H]....Hand held electric impact wrench also works better then electric screw driver on screw removal, at least for stubborn deck screws. Taz

[garyeanderson]

With the hatch covers the screws are usually a Philips head,

if stripped, use a drill and drill off the head of the screw, start with a

small bit and work your way up till the head of the screw comes off . Then pull

the hatch cover off and use the vise-grips on the shaft of the screw. If you

have multiple damaged screws, the same procedure is used.

[Taz]

With the hatch covers the screws are usually a Philips head,

if stripped, use a drill and drill off the head of the screw, start with a

small bit and work your way up till the head of the screw comes off . Then pull

the hatch cover off and use the vise-grips on the shaft of the screw. If you

have multiple damaged screws, the same procedure is used.

I like the Idea of drilling the heads! Better then messing up the cabs. I think the drill in reverse would work for next step as well as vice grips. Always hated turning the little Devils our with vice-grips.,, Thanks for addition to original post......[]

[CECAA850]

I like left handed drill bits. At times when you're drilling, they'll grab the screw and back it out for you.

[Guest " "]

impact screw driver....20 bucks at sears....use a rubber mallat and as you tap the handle...the screw is loosend and turned out....never met a screw that the impact screw driver could not get out.

[grindstone]

I've bumped into a few and I've wailed hard enough and long enough to wreck impact drivers. The greatest thing about impact drivers is for those screws that have rusted & morphed to become indistinguishable from their adjacent surfaces--you can literally beat a slot into them in cases where there's no room to saw.

Drilling heads is great until you slip and then it's indistinguishable from vise-grips and pliers.

For easy stuff, the little left-handed screw-out things work about 50/50:

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-3-pc-screw-out-174-damaged-screw-remover/p-00952154000P

I can see an argument to just drill everything and go with the high-performance wood fillers if there are many non-critical areas to do.

[dtel]

impact screw driver....20 bucks at sears....use a rubber mallat and as you tap the handle...the screw is loosend and turned out....never met a screw that the impact screw driver could not get out.

Have one just like that, works great it has saved my butt many times, usually the shock helps break it free and it also helps the tip fit in a rusty screw head better.

[Taz]

impact screw driver....20 bucks at sears....use a rubber mallat and as you tap the handle...the screw is loosend and turned out....never met a screw that the impact screw driver could not get out.

Have had one for over 20 years. Lost most of the bits, but still have the driver. The other day the local "Tool Man" said he carries bits for it, including Torx bits..[]

......:Left handed drill bits are also sweet. Have a couple of those in tiny sizes.

[mustang guy]

I have found that the screws on the bottom of my LaScalas sometimes look bad, but in reality, the heads are clogged. I use an awl to unclog them, and most of the times, an ordinary #2 phillips does the trick.

[JJkizak]

And make sure when you get the defective screw out that you put in a new hard one.

JJK

[mustang guy]

And make sure when you get the defective screw out that you put in a new hard one.

JJK

AMEN

[Guest " "]

if the screw is in really bad shape, I use these. Best to drill a starter hole first.

[Guest " "]

while on the general subject.....might as well talk about extracting nuts.....these bad boys work great. All this stuff is available at sears really cheap.

[mustang guy]

I have the same bolt extractors Fritz mentioned, and a set of these:

[mustang guy]

As for nuts and bolts, usually this occurs due to rust. A torch can free up a very rusty bolt or nut before you rape the head or worse break the bolt. Yesterday, I picked up a couple of things to try, one is CRC Freeze Off, and the other is WD40 rust release:

I will try them out, and see which works best. Last week, there was a rusted bolt I had a lot of trouble with, and I could not heat because it was near an ABS sensor wire which could not be removed. Perhaps one of these products would have made the job easier.

[Taz]

Throw defective screw in trash ASAP! Used the power drill in reverse several time this evening on a Honey Do Project. Now I got to go out and put a sponge in the rain gutter. Too much water going to one of the down spouts....[].....Taz

[JJkizak]

i also use "Blaster" (Cancer causing) for rusty screw/bolt removal. You can also use it on a very dull drill bits to drill holes in metal. It's a wonderment on how a dull drill can drill a hole with brute force.

JJK

[mustang guy]

i also use "Blaster" (Cancer causing) for rusty screw/bolt removal. You can also use it on a very dull drill bits to drill holes in metal. It's a wonderment on how a dull drill can drill a hole with brute force.

JJK

I have been using Blaster for a year, and will attest it is a very good penetrant. It has failed a few times for me though. For instance, after soaking a part (torsion bar near fuel tank/line/and pump) multiple times over a period of days I could not get it pressed out with my 3 ton porta power. Finally I borrowed a 10 ton porta power, and used a 13lb sledge to break it free. It went flying accross the shop. Would have killed me if it would have hit me.

The new technology that freezes the bolt and allows the lubricant to actually get to the rusty part of the connection is what I am anxious to try. We'll see!