stripped philips screws on drum

[silverbandit91]

97 escort lx

I was trying to take off the drums but when I tried to unscrew the one of the 2 Philips screws I completely stripped it in one turn. I'm going to extract it, but I need to know how far I can drill into it. Can anyone give me a rough Idea how long they are?

[Arnoldtheskier]

Drill it? I wouldn't..pita. Guess if you have an ultra high speed drill and bit...
Grab a grinder..forget that drum. (They are like $25 Cdn here) P.oil and vice grips for the rest if the screw.
Or grab a dremel,cut a slot in the screw head and use one of those $20 hand impact wrenches.

The screw is about 1/2 to 3/4 long

[mightymoose_22]

Those screws usually require an impact driver to get out... you may still be able to get it out if you use one. The screww is pretty short though... I'd say less than a half inch in length.

[tripletdaddy]

If it's a countersunk screw, then why not use a high quality drill bit like a titanium or cobalt and just use a large enough bit to drill just the head of the screw out. Then the drum should pull right off the remaining threaded portion of the screw. Many drums are not held on by anything until the wheels are lugged on over them. As you probably know, they sure don't want to come off easily later on. Depending on my mood, I would either rely on just the one remaing screw to hold it on or none or fix the broken one. If you continue to use the screws, please be sure to put never sieze on it.

There are also a few products out there that can extract the seized screw in one step rather than use a drill and an extractor. The one I have is the Craftsman Screw Out. It basically is a left-handed drill bit with steeper cutters than that on a drill bit that are supposed to grab the stripped screw head and twist it out.

[Davescort97]

I used a chisel to get mine off. I didn't put them back in because it was such a pita to get them out. Wheel will hold it on just fine.

[zzyzzx2]

I also used an impact driver to get mine out. And when I put them back in, I put a little grease on the threads.