406oc.co.uk

I've been having a few problems with my 5mm Hex screw that held the ABS speed sensor in place.
Now, the screw itself is properly rounded off, have tried a selection of heads to turn the evil thing and nothing is working. My friend also had mole grips he tried and nothing... it is incredibly stuck..
A friend from this forum told us to chisel the sensor away from the screw surround, which we did... when it broke free and we still couldn't get it out, we were advised to take the disc off and punch the little sod through, some minutes later out it popped. (Thank you, you know who you are, always coming up with some good advice!)

Anyway, now what do I do that the screw is properly stuck and rounded off?
Tools I have are limited, alternatively, if anyone lives local and wants to take out frustration on this screw... for a cuppa tea, let me know

As a marine mechanic I'm very familiar with the concept of broken, stuck and ruined bolts.

You have several option:

1. Find some way to grip the damn thing and just muscle it out. Wise grip is usually your friend, or you might make a cut in the damaged head and get it out with a flathead screwdriver or "punch driver" (Sorry, my tool names are all norwegian).

2. Drill it out. If you have access on both sides you can grip it and just drill the head off and pull it thru, otherwise you can just drill the thing out.

3. Remember, wd40 or heat are your friends when dealing with stuck metal. However something as tiny as a 5mm bolt - I imagine you could just cut it off somehow. If it was me I would bring out the power tools and grind it down.

Good luck:) And be careful with heat close to the gas tank^^

Can you get a drill in there to drill it out? I'm thinking maybe not. To be honest it's nothing majorly mechanical, so long as the sensor can't move about or fall out or anything it probably doesn't matter - grind the screw off flush, clean the area up & glue the damn thing in there

TheSongRemainsTheSame wrote:As a marine mechanic I'm very familiar with the concept of broken, stuck and ruined bolts.

You have several option:

1. Find some way to grip the damn thing and just muscle it out. Wise grip is usually your friend, or you might make a cut in the damaged head and get it out with a flathead screwdriver or "punch driver" (Sorry, my tool names are all norwegian).

2. Drill it out. If you have access on both sides you can grip it and just drill the head off and pull it thru, otherwise you can just drill the thing out.

3. Remember, wd40 or heat are your friends when dealing with stuck metal. However something as tiny as a 5mm bolt - I imagine you could just cut it off somehow. If it was me I would bring out the power tools and grind it down.

Good luck:) And be careful with heat close to the gas tank^^

Thank you for your advice, this may sound a stupid question but is WD40 flammable?
I think the next thing is definitely the heat... he did try and drill it out and that also failed.. his mole grips also failed... so heat looks like my only option
If I have to grind it down how am I to get the rest of the screw out, to re-use the hole?
Thanks for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it.

steve_earwig wrote:Can you get a drill in there to drill it out? I'm thinking maybe not. To be honest it's nothing majorly mechanical, so long as the sensor can't move about or fall out or anything it probably doesn't matter - grind the screw off flush, clean the area up & glue the damn thing in there

Tried to drill but had no luck what so ever..
GLUE - are you mad .... don't answer that

Sonia406 wrote:...is WD40 flammable?

Extremely, it makes a good flame thrower which I've used for various things including tackling wasps nests. (N.B. this is extremely dangerous).

I'm not sure if heating stuff up with a blow torch is going to help, you no longer have anything to grab hold of. Also, I reckon there's a fair chance you'll damage stuff including the bearing. I would probably try drilling a hole in it and using a screw extractor (http://www.screwfix.com/p/screw-extract ... 3godmkoAyg ) but I've never had much luck with them, they're extremely hard and therefore extremely brittle and shear off leaving you with something that nothing's going to shift. You really need to remove the hub and stick it in a vice... Or, glue it in place. I don't mean Copydex or Evo stick, use Araldite or chemical metal.

Sonia406 wrote:
Thank you for your advice, this may sound a stupid question but is WD40 flammable?

Very much so. However it burns fast so no worries;)

steve_earwig wrote:

Sonia406 wrote:...is WD40 flammable?

Extremely, it makes a good flame thrower which I've used for various things including tackling wasps nests. (N.B. this is extremely dangerous).

I'm not sure if heating stuff up with a blow torch is going to help, you no longer have anything to grab hold of. Also, I reckon there's a fair chance you'll damage stuff including the bearing. I would probably try drilling a hole in it and using a screw extractor (http://www.screwfix.com/p/screw-extract ... 3godmkoAyg ) but I've never had much luck with them, they're extremely hard and therefore extremely brittle and shear off leaving you with something that nothing's going to shift. You really need to remove the hub and stick it in a vice... Or, glue it in place. I don't mean Copydex or Evo stick, use Araldite or chemical metal.

Those things are horrible. We call them Pig's Dicks, and as you say they are brittle and either breaks or just does not work.

steve_earwig wrote:

Sonia406 wrote:...is WD40 flammable?

Extremely, it makes a good flame thrower which I've used for various things including tackling wasps nests. (N.B. this is extremely dangerous).

I'm not sure if heating stuff up with a blow torch is going to help, you no longer have anything to grab hold of. Also, I reckon there's a fair chance you'll damage stuff including the bearing. I would probably try drilling a hole in it and using a screw extractor (http://www.screwfix.com/p/screw-extract ... 3godmkoAyg ) but I've never had much luck with them, they're extremely hard and therefore extremely brittle and shear off leaving you with something that nothing's going to shift. You really need to remove the hub and stick it in a vice... Or, glue it in place. I don't mean Copydex or Evo stick, use Araldite or chemical metal.

WD40, flame throwing and petrol tank... Yer err I think I'll give this a miss
Sounds like one girlie must get herself a drill, some high quality drill pieces, none of that cheap stuff that chews itself up instead of doing anything
Removing the hub sounds a big job... I so under-estimated this job.
Thanks

TheSongRemainsTheSame wrote:

Sonia406 wrote:
Thank you for your advice, this may sound a stupid question but is WD40 flammable?

Very much so. However it burns fast so no worries;)

Errrrrrrrrrrr............. I think I'll pass
It's right next to the petrol tank after all........ lol

TheSongRemainsTheSame wrote:

steve_earwig wrote:

Sonia406 wrote:...is WD40 flammable?

Extremely, it makes a good flame thrower which I've used for various things including tackling wasps nests. (N.B. this is extremely dangerous).

I'm not sure if heating stuff up with a blow torch is going to help, you no longer have anything to grab hold of. Also, I reckon there's a fair chance you'll damage stuff including the bearing. I would probably try drilling a hole in it and using a screw extractor (http://www.screwfix.com/p/screw-extract ... 3godmkoAyg ) but I've never had much luck with them, they're extremely hard and therefore extremely brittle and shear off leaving you with something that nothing's going to shift. You really need to remove the hub and stick it in a vice... Or, glue it in place. I don't mean Copydex or Evo stick, use Araldite or chemical metal.

Those things are horrible. We call them Pig's Dicks, and as you say they are brittle and either breaks or just does not work.

Have done some youtube videos looking for something decent.... I don't think these screw extractors will work much to be fair...

get a left handed drill bit and see if that will catch it and get it out that way

I think you may end up changing the hub, get one from a breakers or try ebay?

Bloody thing


Put up a bit of a fight to say the least:


Access is bit awkward, to say the least....... (screw in question isn't that visible in this picture due to shadow).

I remember another trick!

Find a large half inch torx bit and a hammer. The bit have to be a bit too big for the hole. Knock it forcefully in with the hammer and unscrew the bolt with a Ratchet Wrench

TheSongRemainsTheSame wrote:I remember another trick!

Find a large half inch torx bit and a hammer. The bit have to be a bit too big for the hole. Knock it forcefully in with the hammer and unscrew the bolt with a Ratchet Wrench

One needs to buy a hammer desperately but yes I get the picture... proper whack it in the hole

Sorry, my bad

Thanks, will try that as well

Can you file two flats onto it to take a spanner? Or hammer a tight socket onto it. Or you could always... (am I going nuts?)

steve_earwig wrote:Can you file two flats onto it to take a spanner? Or hammer a tight socket onto it. Or you could always... (am I going nuts?)

Now there's an idea... You lads really are, resourceful aren't you!

Thanks