I have a gas grill and planned on replacing the rusted burners. I have 2 of the 4 screws out, the other 2 will not budge. They are machine screw through the aluminum burner into steel. I tried liquid wrench, tapping, heat, grinding the sides of the heads flat to use pliers, and drilling through the center. nothing has worked, they refuse to budge. anyone have any suggestions??
Loosen a stuck screw
screws
Related Solutions
Twist in the proper direction
Are you turning the right way? Remember, "Righty tighty, Lefty loosy" (which never made sense to me). Most screws are right-handed threads, so you'll turn them anti(counter)-clockwise to remove them. In some situations left-hand thread screws are used (usually to prevent screws from loosening due to rotational forces), so you'll actually have to turn the screw clock-wise to loosen it.
Sometimes tightening the screw very, very slightly, can loosen it up enough that it can be removed.
Muscle
The first thing to try, is simply to apply more inward force while turning.
- Use a screwdriver with a head that fits snugly in the screw head.
- Put the palm of one hand on the back side of the screwdriver handle, and wrap your other hand around the handle ready to twist.
- Push the screwdriver as hard as you can with your back hand into the screw, and twist with your other hand.
If you are using a screwdriver with a hexagonal or square shaft, you can grip the shaft of the screwdriver with an adjustable spanner (wrench) or vise grips. This will allow you to exert more torque, and may put you in a better position to push the screwdriver harder into the screw head.
Lube
Sometimes screws seize up due to rust, or other debris. Soaking the area with penetrating oil, may free up the screw enough for you to remove it.
- Apply a liberal amount of penetrating oil to the area.
- Allow the oil to soak in for 5-10 minutes.
- Try to remove the screw (by conventional means, and using the technique above).
Rapping, Tapping, and Banging
If both methods above have not worked, giving the area a sharp tap with a hammer might break the screw free.
- Hit the screw and surrounding area with a series of sharp taps with your hammer.
Remember, you're not trying to knock the screw into next week, you just want to loosen it up (though there are situations where you'll have to give the piece a healthy whack).
Impact Driver
For really stuck screws, you can use a manual impact driver.
- Attach a bit that fits snugly in the screw slot
- Set the driver to spin in the proper direction (this process varies from tool to tool, but most commonly, you'll compress the driver and twist).
- Place the driver on the screw, and hold the driver as straight as possible (keep you hands away from both ends of the tool).
- Give the back side of the driver a whack with a hammer (a rubber mallet or non-marring hammer is good for this).
- Repeat until the screw starts to twist (most impact drivers have to be "reset" between strikes, so don't forget to reset the driver before whacking it again).
- Once the screw is freed up, use a regular screwdriver to remove it.
This may not always be the best tool when working with sensitive electronics or delicate equipment, but it's very useful for removing stuck screws.
Drilling
If you still cannot remove the screw, as a last resort you can drill the screw out.
- Select a drill bit that is just smaller than the shaft of the screw you want to remove (you may have to guess if you can't see the whole screw, but you can always go bigger later so start small).
- Place the bit in a drill.
- Place the tip of the bit in the center of the head of the screw.
- Drill until the screw comes free, or until you think you are deep enough.
- If the screw did not come free, switch to a slightly larger bit and drill again.
This is a last-ditch effort, and will destroy the screw (and possibly the threads in the hole, if not done correctly). Use this technique only as your last resort.
Explosives
Remove the screw, and everything else in a 20ft. radius.
- Place the charge on the screw.
- Light the fuse.
- Run like hell.
- Cover your ears.
- Bask in destructive glory.
It's a good idea to film the explosion using a high-speed camera, so you can watch it over and over again in super slow-mo.
Looks like the threads on the bolt are crushed/damaged, so you're only choice might be to drill it out or cut it off.
Put on a pair of good work gloves. Remove the blade from a hack saw. Then work the blade between the nut, and the plastic washer. It will likely be slow, hard work, but eventually you should be able to cut the bolt. Alternatively, you could try using a metal blade in an oscillating multi-tool or rotary tool.
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Best Answer
The screws are likely rusted in place.
Drill the head completely off so you can remove the aluminum parts. Then try the following:
generous application of penetrating oil, followed by a 24 hour wait. Put vise grips on the shaft (pliers will not work) and use a hammer on the vise grips. You want a sudden movement here, not a steady turn
heat the part and then use the vise grips again. And by "heat" I mean glowing dull-red. Grab it with vise grips while still glowing.
the above may simply twist off the shaft, but that's step 3 anyway. Grind it flush with the rest of the metal, heat it up bright red, preferably orange, and let it cool completely. Do NOT quench - heating softens the metal, rapid cooling hardens it. Drill and tap a new hole. If there's too much corrosion in there, drill a bigger hole. If it's really nasty corrosion, go all the way through and use a bolt, and if it's bad enough that the bolt won't work, get a new grill.