The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk how to remove stripped clutchhead screws that are flush mounted?

guys im trying to remove the part thats mounted under the hood where the latch go's and its held on with flush mounted clutchhead screwds 2 are stripped how can i get them out?

Weld a bolt to the top of the screw. The heat from the welding should loosen the rust that is probably causing the problem. If not give it some more heat. If this is not possible, drill a hole in the screw and use an ez-out to extract the offender. Do not heat the ez-out or it will twist off.

dbone,

My procedure would be to take a small torch tip and heat the head of each little screw. Localize the heat until the flathead turns red, remove the torch and let the screw cool.

Before it is dead cold, squirt each screw with WD-40 or an equivalent.

Use a small left hand drill bit, and drill through the center of each screw. If the left hand bit doesn't buzz them out, use a extractor and attempt to twist them out.

This all sounds complicated, and it sort of is...but if you have all these tools, it would most likely give you the best results.

You can also drill a small pilot hole as near to the center of the screw as you can, then follow that with a very large drill. This will 'pop' the countersunk portion off, and allow you to grab the little stub with vise-grips once the latch piece is removed.

Removing broken or frozen screws/bolts requires creativity for each circumstance..good luck.

Stuart

One of our mechanics at work had a broken bolt he was removing and he had a snap on tool. I was doubtful that it would work,however I watched him remove that bolt without a problem. Needless to say I bought one from snapon and have used it several times with no problems. Maybe I was lucky,but this is the first remover that has ever worked for me.
There is several different sizes of drill bits with a tool that is shaped like an allen wrench that you tap into the drilled hole of what ever you are trying to remove. Then there is an adapter that fits over the little allen wrench. Carefully use a wrench on the adapter and the broken bolt screws out. I always try to drill to the full depth of the bolt or screw that I am trying to remove. Maybe I have been lucky.
The mechanic told me that it was better because the force was through the bolt and not screwing into the bolt causing more outward pressure which made things tighter. His comments made sense to me.

Just what has worked for me. Not cheap to buy but worth it.
Cheers Ed