Stripped torx screw

I'm not sure how big a Torx 27 screw is, but Aldi are selling a set of screw extractors at the moment for £4.99. At least they were on Monday in Aylesbury.

If they are big enough for a Torx 26, they might be just what you need.

T27 would have a head about 3/16 dia.

Not seen the Aldi set of 5 but the Homebase (JML) set of 3 screw extractors (for the same price when on offer) are effective.

You do need a lot of force onto the head of the screw to start 'em off or you just drill the head but once "cut in" are good. Not sure if a torx head would be hardened, if so all bets are off! But a hardened head isn't likely to have rounded off assuming the correct sizes driver was being used...

EZ-outs. ( screw extractors ).

These are slightly conical hardened steel things, with a left-handed flute on them.

You put them in a tap wrench ( or use an adjustable spanner if you are being rough ), and then with a hammer, gently tap them into the rounded head whilst applying gentle LH torque. You need to feel it bite, and by carefull control of tapping and torque, you should be able to get the thing to bite and bring out the screw.

Do NOT ( as I saw at work ) put the thing in a drill and run it in reverse at high speed and expect anything usefull to happen!

Toolstation has a set of 3 screw extractors which are good .... and cheaper than the other sets commonly available

dg

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If it will stand a bit of hammering try using a small (tiny) cold chisel or punch to cut a straight screwdriver slot.

Cic.

In message , Nitro® writes

T27 is a fairly big beasty, what's it on?

If it will take a few taps with a hammer, I'd consider sacrificing a flat blade screwdriver with a tommy bar hole by tapping it into the recess and trying to turn it.

The Aldi screw extractors that are around at the moment might work but I'm not sure they will be big enough.

T27 is quite large, making the idea of a slot out of the question. I did try tapping a screwdriver into coupled with some mole grips to add leverage to it but no joy. Rather than F up the hole job I have a mechanic coming round to do the job, it's a torx screw that holds a coil pack on a Renault.

You have given it a squirt of PlusGas or a drop a diesel and left it for a day haven't you?

But you need to drill into the screw for these - and the OP says that's not an option.

Did you first try and remove it with the wrong tool? Can't imagine a fixing for that being very tight. Unless it has corroded in place.

When the problem was identified it was clear which of the four coil packs it would be, it was already stripped and totally rounded out. Obviously the previous owner had naffed it up so left it.

I did try tapping in an allen key bit but missed the step which the mechanic did first. He gently tapped a small chisel into the edge of the screw until there was movement, he then tapped in an allen key bit on a bar, job done.

It's a rounded TORX screw: that will have a 'grabable' hole at the top where the splines used to be, surely?

Also, he said drilling the whole thing out was not an option, but he didn't say why. Partial drilling may be possible to permit an EZ-out to work.

Also... things that 'are not an option' can 'become' options with the passage of time and the increase in frustration, and the increasing damage inflicted on the offending item untill you ultimately reach the point that a large hammer is an option :-)

Think the taper on an easyout is too gentle, and starts with too fine a point.

When you say that drilling it out is not an option, Is that because you can't get a drill to the head, or some other reason?

The only advice I can offer, is to get a Torx 30 and grind a small shallow angle on it and hammer it into the rounded 27 slot and see if you can remove it that way. Be careful with the hammer, as I think the Torx bits are on the brittle side

Dave

That crossed my mind over an hour ago and I went to my Allen key selection and couldn't decide what size to use :-(

Dave

The taper is gentle, and that's a Good Thing. You just need to choose the correct size to start with. A generous selection of easyouts is a very handy thing!

Sometimes, the correct size it slightly over-size, and you will need to 'gently' tap it into the hole, the same way you can 'encourage' an under-size socket onto a rounded nut...

The problems arise when you shatter an easyout in the screw. They are so hard, that any attempt at drilling will usually result in the drill simply skipping off into the softer screw, and then into the softer still threaded hole you want to save!

Given that we've now heard that it's a failed coil pack on a car, there was another possibility we failed to consider:

Angle Grinder.

If the item which the screw was recessed into is disposable, then destructivly cut the blasted thing off using whatever method seems best, leaving the rounded screw standing all alone and easy to deal with.

It might be for this application, but in my experience it is not when trying to remove either a broken bolt, or stud. The slowness of the taper causes the broken part to swell in the tapped hole and jamming it in.

Agreed.

Agreed again.

There is a solution, but you need to be tooled up for the job.

The tools are a solid tungsten carbide twist drill of the right size to match a hardened steel drill guide bush to match the drill and finally a bush carrier to enable the bush to be mounted above the centre of the broken easyout and clamped down to prevent it moving anywhere.

Drill into the easyout as if it was made of soft steel and then you should just be able to open the hole up with a sharp cobalt drill.

I had to do this many years ago when I snapped an easyout in the brake adjuster on my Mini.

After this, I never used an easyout again, just the blow torch to expand things until they came loose.

Dave