Bike repair gone bad

[Anonymous]

Ok all you guys and gals out there in GS wonderland. Never EVER use a cold chisel to "tap" the head of a frozen cover screw. I was removing my left cover to replace the stator and the impact wrench reversed stripped the one of my screws. I tried using a cold chisel to cut a notch in the screw head. Tap....Tap...Tap.....All I could see was a mark slightly heavier than a scratch. TAP...POUND...POUND...AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I drove the %$#@*(&^% chisel through the head of the screw , splitting it, and causing major damage to the cover. Thank goodness the local shop I frequent (Komplete Cycle of Marysville, CA) was able to get it welded and drilled for around 25 bucks. Moral of this story......Drill out the stripped head, remove cover, grasp screw shaft firmly with vise grips, remove screw. Also....Triple (or perhaps quadruple) check that you have removed ALL gasket material before tighting down the Valve/Cam cover. I didn't and paid the price. A piece of gasket (less than 1/2 inch long) was left on my head....a new gasket put in place and the cover reinstalled. Tighten down the bolts and CRACK! Split the cover. Just got a replacement (THANKS Nick!!!!!). Betcha I won't do that again anytime soon.

[mcycle-nut]

Bike repair gone bad

You poor bastard! Bet the tears were flowing in your garage! (to go with the blood and sweat) You don't have to drill out the screw if the head is mangled, except in EXTREME circumstances. Just pound on the head with something as big as the screw head, and then pound a screwdriver into the "new" head you've just made. This is a tried and true formula, I've used it many times. Then what you do is take those stupid "Phil's Lips" screws and throw them as far away as you can, replacing them with Allen head bolts. Remember when tightening, that you're in ALUMINUM, which strips easily. Don't go using a box end wrench on your allen key just to "torque 'er up"! A bit of Nev-R-Seize on the bolts helps with future dissasembly. 8)

[Anonymous]

Bike repair gone bad

Got the bolts and never seize stuff from the same shop that fixed the cover (on their advice). The bolts I used were standard 8mil heads which went on easy with a socket. Very gently tightened in turn until the cover was snug and secure.

[Anonymous]

When I was doing lots of work on bikes I used T-bar screw drivers. These plain metal drivers have a tee piece across the end as a handle. If ever I had a philips slot chew out I would put one end of the tee on the screw head, hit the other end of the tee with a hammer as if it was a drift, and mush the chewed metal together again. The screwdriver went against the head and I hammered the thing into the scrunched up metal so it re-cut the philips slot.

It sounds a bit primitive but the head of those screws are soft enough to rebuild like that several times before you have to replace the screw.

It also wasn't my idea. It was standard practice for bike shops, from whom I bought the screwdrivers in the first place.


Kim

[administrator]

Great idea!

Kim, you should repost you're idea in the Tips and Tricks section of the forum. I bet alot of people didn't know about that one (including me).

--- Frank ---

[Anonymous]

Impact drivers & phillips heads

Here's how I do it.
Take the impact driver and push it slightly on the floor to confirm the direction is correct, then I carefully take the bit out not disturbing the directional setting. Then tap the bit onto the screw, it should be 'stuck' in the screw and when you 'attach' the driver (often times it will hang onto the screw also!) THEN strike it . This procedure has worked for me almost every time! :roll:

[Don Lobacz]

I agree, you have to 'set' the impact bit to guarantee a good bite. If it still doesn't turn without stripping, however, the cold chisel has always worked for me (dozens of times). Perhaps the chisel you used was not small enough or you turned the direction of impact too late. The first time someone suggested using a chisel, I didn't believe that it could deliver enough twisting power to loosen a frozen bolt. I am now a firm believer that IF you can get a good shot at the bolt head, the chisel is an excellent bolt remover (which you should then replace with allen bolts).

[smallegange]

frozen bolts

Have you ever tried heating it up with a welding torch? Only try this if everything else fails! You'll have to strip down all the painted parts ofcourse and drain fuell and oil. Works great!

[Anonymous]

Damaged screw heads

Sears came out with some bits designed to remove damaged phillips screw heads. They are designed to bite into the phillips head when turning to loosen a damaged screw. Have yet to buy any but they look like they'd do the trick. I have used a very small pair of channel lock pliers to grip the outside of a round head screw that won't budge. Sure hate it when you damage a screw or bolt trying to get it out!

[Anonymous]

Re: Damaged screw heads

Sears came out with some bits designed to remove damaged phillips screw heads. They are designed to bite into the phillips head when turning to loosen a damaged screw. Have yet to buy any but they look like they'd do the trick. I have used a very small pair of channel lock pliers to grip the outside of a round head screw that won't budge. Sure hate it when you damage a screw or bolt trying to get it out!

I got a set for Christmas, can't wait to try them on something. Hey what can I say the wife likes to keep me busy!

[crag antler]

paull wrote:
Sears came out with some bits designed to remove damaged phillips screw heads. They are designed to bite into the phillips head when turning to loosen a damaged screw. Have yet to buy any but they look like they'd do the trick. I have used a very small pair of channel lock pliers to grip the outside of a round head screw that won't budge. Sure hate it when you damage a screw or bolt trying to get it out!


I got a set for Christmas, can't wait to try them on something. Hey what can I say the wife likes to keep me busy!

I bought the Sears set before Christmas and haven't had too much luck with them. Don't know if it was me or not. Sticking to the old impact wrench and vise grips.

[Jay B]

My trick is this. Liberal dose of penetrating oil and leave it set for a couple of hours. I cut a small slot using my Dremel tool in the head. I then take a very large flat blade screwdriver and pound it into the slot. I then put some vise grips on the screw driver and slowly and lightly tap on the vise grips till the screw/bolt comes lose. Some times before I put the penetrating oil on the screw/bolt I will heat up an old screwdriver and hold that against the screw/bolt to heat and cool it several times and then put the penetrating oil on it.

[Anonymous]

hey guys sears has these screwdriver bits. I'm not sure how to explain how the work but often when I'm done removing a philips screw the screw is or is almost stuck to the bit. The sides of the four slots of the bit are lined with small ridges. They real work great. Also I have found that if you use inward force when twisting to remove a philips screw and the screw driver still wants to turn out of the screw head then rapping on the end of the screw driver when it is in the screw head will sometimes help, but the bits work great. You'd be suprised the philips screws that will come loose without stripping when you push in on the screwdriver hard enough while turning it, most of the screws I've wallowed out it was because I was lazy about how much froce I used pushing the screwdriver in as I twisted it.

matt