Gear cover screws - won't budge

[stevewhitt]

Hi,
I am trying to remove the gear cover from my w/ng. I have managed to remove 2 of the 5 slotted screws, and that was with using a large screwdriver.

The other 3 simply will not budge and I don't want to chew the head up. My thoughts are heat the crankcase around the screw thread or use an impact driver with a large slotted bit.

Has anyone got any experience of removing these screws that they can share?

[will_curry]

I have an impact driver for the stubborn screws and so far it's never failed -
as long as there is a reasonably good head on the screw. If not, the only
thing left is to drill the head right off and remove the remains with the cover
out of the way.

[Mick D]

Hi

I try to avoid impact drivers and only use as a last resort. In your case I'd try heating the case, (I use a hot air paint stripper), and the correct size of screwdriver with it's blade in good condition. Another approach is a new hex bit of the correct size in an adaptor on a socket nut driver, (use a Tee bar for extra leverage).

Regards Mick

[Julian Murphy]

Can you get a screwdriver that has a squareshaft or a pair of flats somewhere on the shaft.

Then use a spanner to turn, whilst you apply pressure on the handle.

Avoid an impact driver. I'm not convinced that the 'heavy hammering' is good for alloy castings.

Heat with a hot air gun often helps also.

[will_curry]

It's interesting to read the comments about impact drivers. Some care is necessary
not to use them on something not well supported or robust but in my experience
they don't need much of a tap to free off things like chaincase and timing cover
screws.

[nevhunter]

Make sure your BIG square shanked screwdriver is ground properly so as not to destroy what's left of the slot and use a drill press to apply a down force to the handle use a shifter to turn the square shafts and ease the screw slowly at first. Nev

[stevewhitt]

Thank you for all the advice. As the engine is still in the frame, I decided, having purchased a good fit bit, to give the impact driver a go. It worked effortlessly.

Lots of great ideas though for future use/challenges.