Stripped a T30 bed screw, any advice on which screw extractor & bit size to use?

Can’t you reach under the rear quarters to spray the bolts with penetrating oil. I know I’ve sat under/inside these spots before

 

Those t30 screws are terrible.

actually all torx screws suck

 

I used to hate torx, that was until I got a decent set of torx bits. Now I use them for everything. Way better than Allen, Flat or Phillips. What I do hate are the inverse torx bolts BMW insist on using, they suck.

 

Sounds like a good excuse to buy one to me.

 

Maybe hammer in a right-sized flathead screwdriver and turn.

 

At least in smallish sizes I still prefer a good Robertson head, but yeah, there's nothing natively wrong with Torx.
Also... Many things from Japan, that we think are Phillips head screws are not actually Phillips head. They are JIS, which is different. JIS bits fit JIS screws much better than Phillips head bits fit JIS Screws.

 

How tight is it? Any way to 2-part quick-cure epoxy a sacrificial bit in there, chuck it, and back it out?

 

I got a harbor freight set when i stripped mine.

 

Left handed drill bits aren't the worst of ideas for screw extraction. You do have to make sure that you can keep the drill perpendicular to the screw, but it is a pretty good tool to have in the box.

 

Pretty simple if you know the bolt thread size diameter. Just use a bit a bit smaller to drill the bolt, and use the biggest extractor to fit the hole. Torx bolts imo are the easiest to extract...you already have a good center spot to begin to drill. Just be sure your bits are harder than the bolt your drilling.

 

I’d use an easy out and replace the screw. Deal with this all the time at my shop.

 

Yeah. Easy outs, when they work, are great.
When they don't work, and when they break off are a much bigger problem.
Rather than drilling steel, now you have to drill carbide.

Slots, with flat head screwdrivers or cold chisels would come first for me.
Left handed drill bits would be next.
Easy outs next.
If none of that works, I'm going to start trying to figure out how to fixture whatever this is in a mill, or otherwise weld "something" onto the the end of it which I can put more torque on.

 

Thanks everyone! A dremel and a flat did the job.

wouldn’t be a project if nothing went wrong

 

There is always so much bad advice in threads like this it amazes me. Jb weld? Epoxy? Angle grinder with a cut off wheel? Have some of you ever used a tool before?

 

Get a square bit, hammer it in there and reverse it out. I did the same thing. Thought it was in reverse but it was in forward and stripped the shit out of it when putting on my bakflip.

 

Congrats OP!

 

I use an angle grinder with a cutting wheel all the time to cut slits in bolt heads…. Apparently you have never used one.

 

No. Do woodworking. Torx is a winner.

 

You're telling me that you looked at the picture of that small screw in his bed rail, and thought an angle grinder was the right tool for the job?

Does this look correct to you too?

 

You gotta do what you gotta do with what you have I'm a fan of left hand drill bits with the cordless drill on the hammer drill setting. Sometimes the vibration combined with the drilling is enough. If not, I've had excellent luck with these extractors at work:

$80 IRWIN Screw Extractor Set, Hex Head, Multi-Spline, 25-Piece (53227)

https://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Tools-...t=&hvlocphy=1027510&hvtargid=pla-385024363678