Need some advice here.

I took my bike in to the local wrench some moons ago, and had him replace all the fluids. Now some miles have gone by, and it's my turn to do the job.

However..

It seems as if a gorilla tightened the darned nuts that secure the primary cover to the outer primary case. Literally, I have wrecked 2 Craftsman t-27 drivers trying to turn these darned things. I push with all I have while turning the driver, and snap! one of the drivers lost a tooth, the other the whole end of the driver sheared off.

I was finally able to get ONE of the nuts loose with a hand held torx driver, but when I moved on to the others, I stripped the darned torx screw head.

My next not so bright idea was to use a handy dandy (craftsman again) screw remover. This is a set of sharp bits that are supposed to bite into the damaged screw head, and turn it out. Problem is the standard HD torx screws are made out of some kind of soft aluminum.. to the screw remover just bites into the screw head and promptly cuts it off. So now I have nice, smooth holes in the torx screw heads.. not so good for getting the darned thing out.

My next brainiak moment came when I thought I would cut into the torx screw head creating a groove wherein I could insert a blade screw driver. Did I mention that these crazy things are made of soft aluminum? Well, you guessed it, the screw driver just broke off another piece of the screw head. No dice there.

Ok..

So I am out of ideas. Anyone out there know how to get these darned things out when the heads are damaged beyond all recognition?

Please help!!

 

NOt really sure what you should do in that situation. Maybe try a phillips bit and tap it into the hole your extractor created with a hammer. If not ou'll have to drill them out with a small bit, like a 1/8th or so, then turn them out. When they are put in, you should put a little anti-seize on them and torque them to 100 INCH lbs.

 

I second the small drill bit and drill them out idea. Need to be real carefull you don't wreck the threading.

 

Drill until the heads fall off and then after the cover is off you can use a vise grip to remove the remainder of the bolt.
Ron

 

As Rbabos said. Cover will come right off most lokely.

Then:

Get a,"hammer impack driver". This is cheap (under$10) at any auto store and will take them right out. It has a 1/2 in driver on the business end.

Way it works is put the needed driver on and place it to the srew or bolt to turn. Hit it nicely with a hammer. This drives the bolt in at the same time it turns it. Thats it, no problem.

This used to be the only way and was a common tool with the early Japanise bikes. Probably still have to use on many of the older bikes.

Still find ways to use it.

 

After you get them off go to true value hardware and get some SS 3/4" #20 coarse thread allen headed socket cap screws. Much easier and costs $2. if you salvage one torx screw take it with you to match the thread. Only torque to 100 INCH LBS.

Oh yeah...don't forget to mark the top hole on the derby cover with a piece of tape so that you can return the cover to it's same orientation as the covers many times warp to the shape of the case they are bolted to. This will prevent an annoying derby cover leak. I marked the top hole on my derby on the inside with a scribe so if I have a brain fart and forget I don't *** up.

 

Yeah...and drill slooowly...or you will fubar the derby.