Topic: Cam breather cover bolt stuck

[buffaloejon]

Is this bolt a trick or something? Destroyed the head as you can see... got the other two loose first, this one is in there so good it warped the bit on the impact driver...

So now what? Machine shop, cause I can't stand to mess with it?

Edit forgot pic

[ekpent]

Nothing trick about it,just stuck I quess. Try some heat and all the other tricks first and worst case scenerio you can drill of the head and grab whats left after cover comes off with some vise grips or such.Should be a lot of thread left.

[Grabcon]

It appears the motor is out of the bike so working on it is easier. When the stock philips screws strip when removing I always use a hand electric drill with a drill bit the size of the screw, not the head. I use light pressure and drill straight into the head. I find that just before I drill through the head the tension on the screw is relieved and I can then unscrew the screw. If not keep drilling until the head pops off. Remove the cover and then unscrew the remainder of the screw.

I have used this technique many time, not only for the side covers and such, but also for things like the cap screws in the bottom of the forks, etc.

Patients is key and a sharp drill with a vari speed hand drill.

[luap]

Try some vise grips with some heat mentioned above, an worse case drill it out

[buffaloejon]

Well, impatience won out here. Long story short, I'm gonna need some JB Weld, or a new cam breather cover.

But, the screw was REALLY easy to get out once the breather cover was off, and I hardly had any thread to grab on to. Which makes me really wonder why it was stuck. The PO must have tightened the ever loving **** out of it.

[MCRider]

Well, impatience won out here. Long story short, I'm gonna need some JB Weld, or a new cam breather cover.

But, the screw was REALLY easy to get out once the breather cover was off, and I hardly had any thread to grab on to. Which makes me really wonder why it was stuck. The PO must have tightened the ever loving **** out of it.

What is often not realized is that these cover screws don't stick at the thread level. The stick occurs between the bottom of the head of the screw and the cover it is holding down. If you can get the head of the screw off, by drilling or grinding, the cover will come off over the stump of the screw and what's left of the screw will (usually) thread right out.

The science of this is that the screw is steel and the cover is aluminum. The part that is exposed to the elements, the screw head, undergoes a chemical reaction with the cover and bam, its stuck. Often has nothing to do with how tight the screw may have been tightened. Simply a matter of time and exposure to the elements.

[buffaloejon]

Well, impatience won out here. Long story short, I'm gonna need some JB Weld, or a new cam breather cover.

But, the screw was REALLY easy to get out once the breather cover was off, and I hardly had any thread to grab on to. Which makes me really wonder why it was stuck. The PO must have tightened the ever loving **** out of it.

What is often not realized is that these cover screws don't stick at the thread level. The stick occurs between the bottom of the head of the screw and the cover it is holding down. If you can get the head of the screw off, by drilling or grinding, the cover will come off over the stump of the screw and what's left of the screw will (usually) thread right out.

The science of this is that the screw is steel and the cover is aluminum. The part that is exposed to the elements, the screw head, undergoes a chemical reaction with the cover and bam, its stuck. Often has nothing to do with how tight the screw may have been tightened. Simply a matter of time and exposure to the elements.

Well, that makes sense for sure. I'm gonna work on finding some stainless allens to replace all these phillips, they're all so old they just strip if I look at too hard.

But in other news, I got what I needed to do done.

[MCRider]

The same if not worse chemical reaction occurs with stainless. The fix is a dab of an anti-seize compound when installing them. Stainless is not necessarily stronger than OEM either, just prettier. Strength in this rea is not a concern.

Look in FAQ for parts suppliers. There is a forum member who sells stainless screw kits as well as many commercial suppliers.

[TwoTired]

Didn't Honda put plated copper washers (or at least plated washers) under those screw heads?  I speculate it was to avoid the chemical reaction between the screw head on the alloy cover.

It's those "little things"...

Of course, what's handy or available at the local HS is "cheaper" and "works" short term.

[Ernest T]

I like these allen screws because they look similar to the original JAS heads.

http://www.allensfasteners.com/search_results.asp?PAGE=2&txtsearchParamTxt=&txtsearchParamCat=84&txtsearchParamType=ALL&iLevel=1&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&btnSearch.x=9&btnSearch.y=6