extrcting a round screw

[miami man]

my brothers 1994 ford escort ignition combination switch needs to be changed but the screw are made round with no slots in it and i never tried to get one out before...any suggestions.

thank for all reples.

[HondaSlayer]

I have heard of people taking a dremel tool and cutting a slot in the head of the bolt to get a screw driver to turn it and once it is out replace it with a hex bolt.

[RhodeStiva]

Easy outs they are awesome

[sketchman]

Yeah, pretty sure those are called shear head bolts. They started with 2 heads really and one snaps off when it gets tight enough on install.

Slot em, yank em, replace em with normal hardware. Be

[georgeb]

If you can't cut a slot in them try chiseling a small notch in the head and tapping counter-clockwise.

[walth]

no dremel necessary. hammer and a flat head screw driver or punch or anything else that you can get to stick.

place it about 3o'clock on the edge and "plumb" and smash it a couple times to get a groove, then keep good pressure on that groove at about 45* and get it to turn and then repeat and keep making grooves. Then keep reusing the grooves as it comes around.

once you get used to it, you can get these off in about 30 seconds to a minute each

[Movin]

Little air chisel..used like the by hand method in one of the upper posts.

[drddan]

If the round screw head sticks up, sometimes it can be grabbed with a vise grip plier, held straight up, and the squeezing action makes it own "flats" on the head, and can be screwed out.

[bravekozak]

The shear bolts look like this before they are torqued to proper breakaway specification.

[gauge_half_inch]

X2 on the vise grips. Make sure there good ones, not the ones you found in a trunk at the junk yard all rusted up. If they won't turn try the slotting method and srewdriver.

[Bert]

Was it the distrustful Soviets or liability-conscious public restroom stall divider manufacturers that came up with shear bolts and single direction slot screws?

[Movin]

Was it over torqued? Maybe left loose ? Can you prove your answer sir?
Any thing ridiculous, senseless, useless or perversely obnoxiousness is the
result of our fine colleges and the Lawyers they produce...

[navdoc101]

^ What?

[Bert]

Was it over torqued? Maybe left loose ? Can you prove your answer sir?
Any thing ridiculous, senseless, useless or perversely obnoxiousness is the
result of our fine colleges and the Lawyers they produce...

I have a teaching license but retain the sense to counsel senior high school students with an old Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) quote;
"Don't let schooling interfere with gettin a good education son"

[Movin]

Lawyers and law suits ....without good reason...are our downfall.