Help with stripped screw head

[Ivantherussian03]

My honda carb has a stripped phillips screwhead, that I need to get out. The head is just plain wallowed out. Any ideas?

[woody1]

My honda carb has a stripped phillips screwhead, that I need to get out. The head is just plain wallowed out. Any ideas?

How big is it? Do you have/or can you get an Easyout that will fit? That's usually my first option. Regards, Woody

[kywoodwrkr]

Ivan,
Is the carb on or off the vehicle?
If off, and you have room, a small hex nut might be mig welded to the top of the screw and then a socket to remove.
If on vehicle and gas is present DO NOT use this method! :roll:
Also a dremel cutoff tool may put a slit in the top of the screw and then use a regular screw drive to remove.
Good luck.
DaveP kywoodwrkr

[grumpy one]

Carb screws are usually cheese-head rather than countersunk. If so you can usually grip the outside of the head with vice-grips.

If that doesn't work you are down to various ugly options. One worth considering is drilling down the center of the screw head with a drill bit the size of the threaded part of the screw. If the screw is very hard you may need to use a carbide-tipped drill, but most of them aren't that hard. When you've drilled to the depth of the screw head you can break off the head. Take out the other screws, dismantle the carburettor, and remove the remainder of the headless screw by gripping the outside of it, where it projects above the part it's screwed into, with vice grips. It usually works - just don't drill too deep so there's no screw sticking up above the surrounding surface after you've dismantled the carb.

Geoff

[Ivantherussian03]

Thanks Guys, I got it 5 minutes after posting. I took a metal saw blade and cut a slit across the screw head down to the washer. Then I took my widest flat head screw driver and tapped in that screw driver in with a hammer into the cut, then twisted; one good 1/4 turn and it was loose.

Dodged a Bullet There. [smilie=1:

I installed it into my honda four wheeler. It started on the 5th pull. :-D

Then I test drove it several times during the day. I am glad it is fixed.:drinks:

[redneckdan]

i replaced the phillips heads on my mikuni carbs with socket head cap screws. I beleive they are 4mmx15mm ; no more rounded out heads.

[nighthunter]

I know that this is a belated post but I'll do it anyways to maybe help someone in the future. Use a smaller than the screw left handed drill bit. It will often times bite just enough to spin the screw out. If it doesn't bring the screw out you have a hole to use the easy out.
Nighthunter

[carpetman]

Ivanthe Russian---You must be a superman type to be starting a Honda by the rope. Mine sure seems hard to pull.

[nighthunter]

Carpetman .... you gotta realize that you are used to the pullet method. Tell me the truth buddy ..... Have you ever started your's with a rope? I think you just gotta get a grip on it buddy. Gotta love this board unless you get censored. Has only happened to me one time.
Nighthunter

[Ivantherussian03]

Yeah, I am just glad I fixed it. I was not sure what the next option was. My tool resource base is limited. I tried the carftsman screw extactor, and that just wallowed out the screw head.

It is $400 dollar carb, and brand new too. Just out of the box when I stripped that screw. It was frustrating!

I was without a vehicle for 6 weeks and it was cutting into shooting.:(

Now I can get trapping and shooting again.:Fire:

:-D

[BD]

An option for smaller stripped screws is to use a small "Star drive" type hardened bit for the Rieser or GRK type screws. You can get these bits in hardened steel and they will drive into an undersized hole so you can put a small socket on the screw to back it out. This has saved me a time or two. The lumber yard or hardware store will have them in blister packs near the Rieser screws. I hold them in a 1/4" nut driver extension to tap them in, and then just put the ratchet on to back them out.
BD

[nelson133]

Sears sells some hardened steel bits that are cut to bite into bunged up screw heads, I have found them useful.

[bruce drake]

I just spent the weekend extracting a seized bolt in a Brake caliper bracket. Wife took the car into the dealer for a brakejob while I was deployed last year. Needed to replace brakepads this week and discovered a stripped bolt head (I suspect they jammed it on with a pneumatic wrench as it was bunged up good with all the edges rounded around) on the caliper wher it connects to thr caliper bracket. I first tried to clean to up the edges of the 9/16 bolthead and trie to size it down to 17/32 so I could try that. Nope, that didn't work. I could use my easy-out set since the dealer also didn't lube the bolt and it had rusted into place. Lots of banging with a deadblow hammer and center punch did nothing to release it. I ended up using a hacksaw blade to separate the caliber and the bracket. I then drilled the bolt out of the bracket very carefully with a 7/16th drill to tear out the rusted stud and clean up the bolt hole. I tried to save the caliper as well but accidently tore the rubber boot so I spent $38 and bought a replacement caliper and bolts today.

I asked the Autozone guy about replacement bracket and I was told I would have to either contact the dealer or find a junkyard for one as they didn't stock it.

Talk about sweating it out until I reassembled it all together tonight. Dear wife would have hitched a fit if I took her mini-van to work tomorrow.

Bruce