Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C10, aka Kawasaki Concours - The Original => The Bike - C10 => Topic started by: RapidRoy on July 26, 2011, 12:24:23 AM
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I had some time to kill tonight so I thought I'd do a little preventive maint. and change the fluid out in the clutch system. One of the phillips head screws holding the cover on the reservoir is stuck tight and mostly stripped. >:( Not sure what to do to get it out, so thought I'd ask before I completely destroy things and have to get a new reservoir and cover. Any ideas on how to break the thing loose? As tight as it is, I doubt I'll be able to break it loose without completely destroying it. Hoping for a magic bullet here.
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Whachyooneed - is a manual Impact Driver and a 2lb hammer.
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Those screws are cheap. I had the same thing happen to me. I very carefully drilled out the stripped screw. I ended up having to replace the cap though due to the damage I did. After I got all the screws off I replaced them with some allen head screws I found at Lowes. I'm sure others have a more surgically precise way to do this. Good luck.
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Second on the impact driver suggestion, the manual kind that you bash on the end with a hammer, not the air gun kind. This has always worked for me.
Now, not speaking from experience here. If you can drill off the head of the screw, and remove the cover, the screw will no longer be under tension. If you're lucky, the remaining threaded portion should come out easily with vice-grips.
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+1 on drilling the head. If you are careful and stop just sort of contacting the cover, the cover can be lifted off, either breaking off or "collapsing" and sliding past the little bit of remiaing screw head and you won't damage the cover. It should be easily unscrewed with pliers or vice grips.
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When this happened to my boy's Ninja, I carefully drilled the heads. Upon removal there is enough of a stub left that you can grab it with a pair of pliers and it removes easily. Once the tapered section is off there is much less friction holding it in place also. If done carefully no damage is done to the cover. Remember all you need is a drill bit just larger than the screw stud, not the entire head.
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You mean the screws made of Chocolate? Those are soft on all motorcycles.
Prevent if possible, using a high quality screwdriver does wonders. People swear by the JIS #2 (that'd be Japanese Industrial Standard), but I've been using my Snap-On #2 successfully for 11 years. Others have had good luck with your standard drywall bit. Then there's technique, torque is cumulative, so don't put a Ton of force on the screw and have it strip (which is the point behind an impact, a sharp increase of torque), but hold it tight for long enough and it Will break free.
After it starts to strip, that's the time to try an impact (sounds like you're here now) with the properly fitting bit.
And once it's so far gone that there's nothing left to hold onto, then you can try your choice of EZ-outs, screw extractors, left handed drill bits or just a normal drill bit. When choosing a drill bit, pick one that's the same size, or slightly smaller, than the Shaft of the screw. All you want to do is drill off the head, the threads will unscrew by finger once the tension is released. No reason to ruin the cover or MC, just go slow. I'd had to do this probably a hundred times in the last decade (mechanic), enough that I bought a box of 500 replacement stainless allen screws just to always have on hand.
Good luck, it's annoying but not hard.
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any of you guys ever hear of a DREMEL TOOL?????
don't drill the screw, it's a p.i.t.a., and doesn't help if you hose it up.
chuck up one of the small abrasive cutoff tools in the Dremel, and cut a slot in the screw head, it will work perfectly, and you can use a flat blade screwdriver, while tapping with a hammer, to remove the screw.... replace with one of murph's allen jobbers...... ;)
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I drilled a hole with a drill bit that was slightly larger than the screw shank.
Head of the screw popped off, I removed the cover and was able to unscrew the threaded portion of the screw easily...
Worked great.
Didn't think about cutting a slot. But I can see where that would work too...
Ride safe, Ted
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Thanks for all the great advice! My favorite, "You mean the ones made of chocolate." Sounds like I'm not as big a dunce as I thought. I'll try the impact driver first, then the dremel tool, then give the drill method a shot if that doesn't work.
Thanks again.
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Just echoing the comments above.
I stripped one of mine on the brake reservoir. Drilled off the head with a slightly oversized bit (just barely wider than the screw). Head came off threaded on the drill bit. Removed brake reservoir cover, unthreaded the remaining part of the screw with my fingers (no tension).
Replaced said phillips head screws with similarly sized allen/hex screws, to help avoid that stripping problem in the future.
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If you have a bike you should have a hand impact. when you strike it, it drives in deeper and twists. The best tool I ever bought from Snap On.
Jack
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. . . then the dremel tool
It's a counter-sunk screw. I doubt you'll be able to cut a slot in the screw without boogering the cover.
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It's a counter-sunk screw. I doubt you'll be able to cut a slot in the screw without boogering the cover.
+1 When done, I replaced mine with stainless screws.
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+1.... same thing happened to me. Ironically (and lucky for me), it was when I was removing it to replace it with the hex screws that came with the Murphs screw kit.
Drilled the center, and used a small easy-out, and it came...well... out easy :o
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http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-screw-remover-and-quick-change-bit-set-95530.html (http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-screw-remover-and-quick-change-bit-set-95530.html)
You need one of these. Saved my butt more times than I can count.
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I use a cordless drill/driver (impact) for these things. It doesn't need a hammer and it doesn't have the strength to strip out the head. At least my cheap Ryobi doesn't. Works wonders for me.
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Same happened to my A5 when I had it :'( but something I found out by my mistake......
You say "Phillips" but did you actually use a Phillips driver or is this just a generic term you guys use?
OTP, and I guess you may have the same, we have Phillips screws and "Pozi" screws. These heads come in different sizes PH1 & PH2 for Phillips and PZ1, PZ2 & PZ3 for Pozi.
The clutch and brake screws take a PZ2 bit, not a PH2 ;).
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Before you start drilling, cutting, etc. Try an impact tool first. (I would even attempt my small battery impact drill) then if that does not work, then try drilling, cutting, blasting....
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No one said it yet, but, WHEN you get them out, put anti-sieze on the threads of the new screws and the beveled head before putting them back in.
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Same happened to my A5 when I had it :'( but something I found out by my mistake......
You say "Phillips" but did you actually use a Phillips driver or is this just a generic term you guys use?
OTP, and I guess you may have the same, we have Phillips screws and "Pozi" screws. These heads come in different sizes PH1 & PH2 for Phillips and PZ1, PZ2 & PZ3 for Pozi.
The clutch and brake screws take a PZ2 bit, not a PH2 ;).
Well, that might explain why many of us are stripping the heads, then...
Still happy with my hex/allen replacement screws, though!
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It's a counter-sunk screw. I doubt you'll be able to cut a slot in the screw without boogering the cover.
don't doubt what you have never attempted....I have succesfully done this at least a dozen times on both the brake and clutch cover screws on multiple bikes.
You need a steady hand, and position the cutter in the existing slot on the "X", carefully cut slot straight downwards it till it gets to the outer diameter of the head, this will allow a deep enough slot in the middle, due to the radius on the cutter, without destroying anything.
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The clutch and brake screws take a PZ2 bit, not a PH2 ;).
Not on any of my 3 Kawasakis, and I can't remember Any brake/clutch covers being Pozi screws. Sorry, go look again, the tops of pozi screws look like this:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Pozi_screw_head_2.png/694px-Pozi_screw_head_2.png)
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Since no one has said it, here goes...
I have a Snap-On Screw Removal Kit that consists of several sizes of easy outs and a corresponding drill bit. The drill bits are left handed. About 90% of the time the drilling operation will bite on the screw before the head comes off, and the screw just backs out.
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Since no one has said it, here goes...
I have a Snap-On Screw Removal Kit that consists of several sizes of easy outs and a corresponding drill bit. The drill bits are left handed. About 90% of the time the drilling operation will bite on the screw before the head comes off, and the screw just backs out.
I have something similar in my tool box that came from Sears.
Forgot I had it and have never used it.
Thanx for the reminder.
By the bye,,,,, AMS-1 USNR Retired (Fly Navy)
Ride safe, Ted