BTinNYC 

Until I do.
Holy moly, but I got this one good. My hand ground, tight fitting, parallel flats screwdriver shredded it worse than a Home Depot Cheapo would have. I got a needle nose pliers on the other end and twisted that end right off. Dremeled a new slot but no bueno. Small reverse twist bits on the way. Yikes.

Russ Roth

That sucks, sounds like you're using a cabinet screwdriver? It's the kind I tend to prefer for small, soft screws. Is that the brake pad holder screw? Had to do one recently that was really tight and I was glad it was a hex bolt, still stopped to look for the key that had the cleanest, sharpest edges before giving it the final crank and was surprised it was that tight, would have stripped if it was a screw head.

BTinNYC 

Yup, 11 speed gruppo, and using a Grace gunsmith screwdriver. I have replacement hex head screws. I'll check if my small drill press can run in reverse, if so I'll pull the caliper.

Barry2 

Not any more!



Barry

Alan K

Once you have extracted this one, replace it with a SS hex head screw. I often remove slotted screws even in new components and replace them with stainless steel he x head version - much better in the long run.

[Ages ago I bought several different sizes of SS screws that are commonly used in bicycles in boxes of 100 and still have not run out of them. Often racks, fenders etc come with steel hardware with start rusting in time. Swapping these items from the beginning eliminates rust problem.]

Ghazmh

Same exact thing happened to me with my Ultegra calipers too. I was able to drill it out by using a center punch and starting with a small drill bit and working my way up. Unfortunately I trashed the threads in the process but was able to use a cotter pin instead of a replacement screw. I eventually replaced both calipers because I didn’t like the way it looked.

choddo

Yeah my LBS managed to get mine out when I almost got it this bad and replaced it with a split pin. I was quite pleased to see the ones that came with my Swiss Stop pads have a hex head. God knows what Shimano are thinking. ¥ probably.

BTinNYC 

"We bought a conex box of pot-metal pins and, ummm...yeah." They started using hex head with the 12 speed release, but I bought aftermarket Ti replacements.

Hoping a black Sharpie will fix the dings on this one, but you just reminded me; I haven't got to front calipers yet. Ai yi yi!

spclark 

Any reason not to disassemble new components then re-assemble using anti-seize or grease (where appropriate) so as to effect more reasonable approach to removal "down the road"?

I too also favor stainless fasteners over pretty much anything else the last few years but even with that there are times stainless isn't really resistant to buggering when they've been installed dry & tightish.

Not wanting to instigate a flame-war, just curious what others' experience have been and what practices have been changed as a result of stuff like the OP's shown us here.

BTinNYC 

100% with ya. In fact, there is no reason to torque these pins at all, if there was room for fingers they could be knurled and just hand tight, IMO. Plus, they're retained with a clip.

It's miserable weather and I have the CV flu, so I thought this is a good time for doing maintenance on my 2 bikes with hydraulic brakes...and I was right.

spclark 

Weather's borderline dreadful here too (but nothing unusual for winter in WI) and you have my sympathy for your affliction.

I got sandbagged a couple weeks ago with RSV. Fortunately no fever but a nagging, vicious cough that's still with me. Went back to work last week w/ Dr's approval though, better to be upright & moving than sitting or recumbent, just letting the crud accumulate. Nearing 75 and w/ history of bronchitis and/or pneumonia I'm very wary of URTI's this time of year particularly.

Stay hydrated, don't over-stress yourself, try to get more rest than you otherwise might find convenient.

WizardOfBoz

In re: suggestions to use SS or Ti screws. Depending on the female thread material, one could get galling. To minimize problems I would use a good quality hardened and plated steel hex screw, with antiseize. If the female thread is Al a SS bolt would be my second choice. But ample antiseize in any case.

WizardOfBoz

Ah, Wisconsin. The memories of my newly shampooed hair freezing solid while I waited for the HS school bus. And of walking down the "Beta wind tunnel" (the short cul de sac that my lakefront college fraternity was on) when the temp was -20°F and the wind chill was -40°F. Good times. Sigh....

Alan K

We are making the new generations softer… when my children were in grade school, teachers wouldn’t allow them to come inside the building during recess unless the temperature was minus 40F or the windchill was 50 below zero F. Their school play ground also had merry-go-round, seesaw and monkey bars etc. The current school boards consider all these things to be dangerous or lethal devices.

Commuting on bicycle was very interesting on such a day. Eyes water which gets caught into eyelashes and turns into solid little icicles very quickly. Once you experience this, your next purchase is a good quality ski goggles!

TiHabanero

Alan K, it is interesting how a culture changes as it becomes more affluent and as technology and the knowledge base grows. My wife teaches in a country school that is becoming gentrified. In the beginning 30 some years ago they rarely had indoor recess. Today the district simply cancels school if it is forecast to have sub-freezing temps or more than 3" of snow. It is sad that law suits and the general over-protection of children is softening the coming generations. Fortunately my wife and I did not pamper our kids and they display a level of self-reliance and toughness that is considered extraordinary today, but when we were kids it was and expectation of society at large.

CrimsonEclipse

Some using the Australian dialect use "bugger" in reference to fornication or similar to the "F" bomb

So this is confusing the hell out of me.

(no sarcasm intended)

BTinNYC 

I learned it from my gunsmith dad, who I think learned it from a English 'smith and I'm sure it means what you think it means.

CrimsonEclipse

Why I (don't mess with/attempt to alter/F with) screws

Right.... got it!

Also, slotted screws are evil by nature.
As stated above, I too go hex at first availability.
(torx if absolutely. but... eeeeh)

Would have also suggested an 'easy-out' (reverse twist bits with extra steps) which causes even more problems 25% of the time.

Next step is a shaped charge and/or some thermite.

BTinNYC 

Shaped charge indeed, because I don't think there's any easy outing this motherbugger!

Replacement pin

downtube42

I'm sitting in a heated room, looking out a window watching the wind draw patterns on a parking lot with wisps of snow, only to erase them a moment later. Pretty. It's about 10F with gusts of 50 mph. I'm warm, with no concerns brought on by the conditions. I have food in the house, so we'll stay home this Saturday morning rather than walk a half-mile to a restaurant. I think about work - software development issues, political maneuvers, how to address a poorly run project my team is supporting. I think about my family - the concerns of every military parent in a world in love with war, for my daughter's young family. Back two generations, my grandfather would just be back inside from milking, my grandma would have the woodburning stove going, having come in from gathering eggs and feeding the chickens. The central part of their home is the original log cabin, with the logs still inside the plaster walls. That part would be fairly warm. The bedrooms upstairs would be freezing, as would the part of the house built around the original cabin. They'd have enough food in the root cellar to last the winter, chickens providing eggs. Grandpa wouldn't hunt; he'd had his fill of death in the great war. Mid afternoon he'd head back out to the unheated milkhouse for the evening milking. This time of year the milk would be stored in a storeroom in the house rather than in the springhouse that's used in the summer. His concerns would be for his twin boys, off fighting another war in Europe, concerns for his rebellious eldest daughter, for the well being of the animals. I know less about his grandfather, but I do know he was a laborer and sustenance farmer, renting himself and his team out to pull stumps and move rock. He and his family would have been in a small cabin in south central Missouri, where it's often more bitter cold. I expect his thoughts would be more about keeping warm, about food for the long winter ahead. Back even further, along another family line, it would have been French Canadians and Native Americans surviving the extreme weather Nova Scotia had to offer. I guess those folks knew of marine things, of building Mi'kmaq lodges, hunting, fishing. Their lives were turned upside down by yet another war, this one between European powers; the French and the English

The point of my ramblings being, if there is one, is that the skills needed to survive have changed; have always changed, will always change. Some things stay the same; family, wars.

base2 

Any chance of killing the loop portion of the pad that the screw goes through to drop the pads out? A very thin cutting wheel like a Dremel or similar would be appropriate. With the pads removed you could grab the broken screw shaft with a needle nose pliers and voilá! Bob's your Uncle.

choddo

Sorry -40 F is insane. We used to do all kinds of stuff that was very badly thought through and people died, that’s why safety standards have improved.


ref “bugger” - yeah it means that sometimes in the UK but mostly means “knacker” or “screw up”. So can you screw up a screw?

And try mixing in “screw” being UK slang for a prison officer.

BTinNYC 

Oh yeah, did that already. Squeezed the remaining pin so bad I was afraid it was going to break. I need that to see where to drill.

I think the proper 'smith phrasing might be "buggering the pin" but that's from the Edwardian era.

Alan K

Not if you are properly dressed!

Alan K

Now that the screw has already been cut, is it not possible to place a large slotted screw driver with a few shims and use the screw driver as a lever to push the other half of the screw on the side of cotter pin?

Or you can use a long punch after supporting the pin side properly, and use a hammer to gradually tap it out.