UNREMOVABLE BOLT

Maybe this won't answer the question of how to remove a rounded off bolt, but if you have a phillips head screw that is rounded out, try this before drilling. Just put a little dab of valve lapping compound on the tip of your screwdriver. It'll mave your screwdriver grip the screw like you wouldn't believe. I always use this trick if I even suspect a screw is going to be hard to remove. Of course, if the screw head is damaged too much, this won't work.

Hey Kawa,I've been in your shoes more times than i care to think,craftsman makes a set of sockets for rounded head removal,they work very well,they're fairly cheap and you can buy them buy the set or indivdually,one of the best tool investments you'll ever make.

A couple drops of Marvel Mystery Oil and wait about 1/2 hour. then try the vice grips.

geerbangr wrote:

Hey Kawa,I've been in your shoes more times than i care to think,craftsman makes a set of sockets for rounded head removal,they work very well,they're fairly cheap and you can buy them buy the set or indivdually,one of the best tool investments you'll ever make.

I totally agree w/banger, Craftsman makes several types of extractors. I've had to use them all to get the various buggered screws, nuts and bolts out of my project. However, if I had used an impact wrench before I buggered the bolts, in the first place, I may not have needed the extractors.

I have used the bolt and screw extractors and they work great. The screw extractor works best in a reversible variable speed drill as you can maintain constant pressure against the screw.

Thanks again for your concern and good advise!

Unfortunately I don´t have the Crafstman extractor set and down here things like that are pretty expensive...

I´ll give it a shot this weekend, first pouring some drops of WD40 (our version of Marvel Mystery Oil, I guess) then the filing bolt/smaller wrench trick. If this doesn´t work, I better have those vise-grips around...

Wish me luck!

Yes, we have WD-40 here too, and it's not the same thing as Marvel Mystery Oil... but it'll probably do the trick. You just need a penetrating oil. If you're going to try the extraction this weekend, go ahead and hose the bolt down with WD-40 now so it'll have time to soak in.

Right before you put the vise grips on the bolt, tap it lightly with a hammer.

No need to file the bolt head down if you're going to use vise grips.

I've used a Dremmel to cut a slot in bolts and used a huge rstandard head screw driver. Sounds like that one is on too tight for this method.

If I have this right, the bolt head is rounded off? The filing down for smaller socket trick is pretty much a waste of time. I have done this a few times on oil plug bolts. It is hard to get the sides right. The Sears/Craftsman gizmo for removing the bolt would work best. If you don't have access to this type tool, I suggest that vise grips are the most likely tool I would use. I use vise-grips almost daily to break loose 6mm pan head/phillips screws that are totally stripped from carburetor assemblies.

Using a Dremmel tool to cut a slot and then using a flat blade screw driver doesn't work all that great. The slot tends to strip easily and you get little leverage using a standard screwdriver. If you try this method, use a hand impact driver with a bit that fits in the slot tightly. This could also work. A plain old flat blade screwdriver is unlikely to work well so if you try one first, just be sure to not round the edges on the slot you have cut.

Post edited by: wiredgeorge, at: 2006/08/29 14:34

craftsman makes these sockets that are easy outs. reverse pitch grabbing thread in them. use them like a normal socket. should come right out.

arobsum, Kawiruda is in South America and apprarantly doens't have access to inexpensive Craftsman stuff. I think the things you refer to are called "bolt outs" or something like that. I have a set and they grab the most rounded off bolt every time. They are good stuff but if you ain't got them, vise grips will work about as well if you have room.

geerbangr wrote:

Hey Kawa,I've been in your shoes more times than i care to think,craftsman makes a set of sockets for rounded head removal,they work very well,they're fairly cheap and you can buy them buy the set or indivdually,one of the best tool investments you'll ever make.

i have a set of these they are called bolt-out do a search on ebay there are some listed --i do commercial heating --we find and run into alot of rounded rusted bolts --if they are going to come these will do the trick --i use them with a ratchet -after spraying aerokroil -or pb blaster -keep pressure on them , lightly TAP with a hammer ---if its going to come out this will do it --if the bolts are real bad they will break --