Easy Way To Remove Old, Rusty Screws

I've posted this before, but thought it might be a good idea again, since all of us play with old rusty cars, and have to remove some of the screws that hold things like doors on. I can't take credit for it, my Son found it on the HAMB, and tried it and we were both amazed how easy it was to remove the screws from his new (to him) '30 Ford Tudor body. It takes all of about 5 seconds to get a screw out using this method.

Basically, what you need is an air impact chisel tool, and the end that is pointed that comes with it. When you buy the air chisel they usually give you three or so removable tips with it, and the one you want to use for this is the pointed one.

The first thing you do is weld a 1/4 inch drive, 1/4 inch socket to the end with the point on it. Then you weld a little steel handle at a 90 degree angle onto the same pointed tip. See pictures below. Now, all you do is insert an appropriate hexagon screwdriver end into the 1/4 inch socket, slip that end into the screw you are trying to remove, push it tight into the screw head, and push the button on the air chisel. The vibrations will break loose the screw, and now you use the welded on handle as a wrench to turn the screw out, while still pushing the trigger on the air chisel.

This thing works like butter, and we removed about 50 screws from his sedan in no time at all. Before making this tool, it took him all day to get the screws out of his '29 sedan. Try it, I guarantee you will not be able to believe how easy it does it.

The tip shown in the second picture costs like $ 2 at Home Depot, and Dan ground a relief in each corner to let it lay down in the sunken screw heads better and not slip. The third picture is the stripped down sedan after just a fraction of the time it would have taken by regular means.

Don

Thanks Don, I already have the ingredients to make one of those. I think I'll make one of those this week. I know where some pesky frozen screws are that I can use it on too.

My Son tells me SnapOn sells a version, and that this tool has been used in the Aircraft industry for years, but I had never seen one before. The night he built his, I went to the shop and he said "come here, you have to see this." He inserted it into a door hinge screw (like the one pictured), pushed it firmly into the screwdriver slot, started the air chisel hammering away, then he simply turned the handle counter clockwise and the screw came out as if by magic.

I have taken apart enough old cars over the years to know some of these screws aren't coming out without a fight, and sometimes had to resort to the old hammer impact, or even drilling out the heads. I know also that lots of other guys on here also play with old cars and end up removing some or all of the zillion screws used to hold them together, so I hoped this would help them.

Let me know how you like it.


Don

Thanks Don.
Haven’t put together one of these yet but,
I wanted to adjust the striker plates on my doors and couldn’t get the rusted screws to budge, remembered this trick from your first post.
So I employed the same principle buy taking a small cold chisel, a pair of vice grips, and tapping with a hammer.
Wow, just like you said, Magic!

I learned that secret many years ago before hand held impact chisels. I worked in a shop that rebuilt components for oil burner furnaces. One component had a thick copper coil that was mounted so that the coil was directly in the flame. We used a large phillips screwdriver and a large ballpeen hammer. Set the screwdriver in the screw, apply counterclockwise pressure, and hit it with the ballpeen. Broke that screw loose everytime.

I'll be fabbing that up asap.
Thanks Don.....



Tracy

cool trick, thanks don, i need to do this one too.

Old thread I know, but made one of these tools last week and removed alot of old rusted clutch head screws off my 46' cab. Thanks for the tip! It was a real pain before...

Ancient thread, yeah but a tip worth it's weight in gold! Thanks Don! I've got all the ingredients, just have to weld it together. Probably Tuesday night in my welding class. Perfect timing as I'm just about to disassemble my T body that's been sitting outside (in a tree) for 60-70 years.

Now that is as slick as it comes. This is the first I have ever heard of using an air chisel to power a fastener removal tool. I'll have to build one of these for sure. Glad you post this. Thanks Don.

I know it is an old thread, but thanks . I have never heard of this before although I knew about the hammer trick and the impact drivers. This seems fasterand easier and best of all pretty cheap.

I'm glad it helped some of you. We stole..........no, BORROWED, the idea from someone else, but the darned thing works so slick I had to pass it along. I've done all the other tricks, and have one of those ones you hit with a hammer, but this one just removed them like magic.

Us guys who play with rusty old cars need all the help they can get, and this thing takes only a little work to fab up.

Don

Oh, while we are passing along tips, here is another one I got from someone else. For years I used a pipe wrench to turn a crank in an engine when the bolt wasn't installed yet on the snout. But the teeth of the pipe wrench would sometimes mark up the snout. If you use a big cresent wrench it will turn it easily and leave no damage. Of course, the key has to be in the snout for the wrench to lock onto, but they generally are anyway.

Thanks I'll be making one soon!!!

now to really make it work,coat the tip of the device in valve grinding compound and presto the tip stays in place because it has a grip. I learned the valve grinding tip yrs ago in the acft work place.

Nice tech.

Sounds like a cool trick and faster than heating every screw plus no discoloring.

Sometimes, the "oldies" are the "goodies." Gonna have to build one of these up. Liked the valve grinding compound tip, too. Thanks are in order to the many "more experienced" folks who are willing to share!

Regards,
Shea

What about the ol grinder...that works pretty good too.

Definitely worth fabing one up....thanks for the description and pics!

Another option that works well and is an off the shelf item at almost tool suppliers, motorcycle shops and of course Harbor Freight is called a "impact driver". These have been used in the motorcycle industry for years.

Looks like a big round 1'-1 1/2" diameter knurled metal tube with a hex adapter or 3/8" or 1/2" square socket adapter on one end to hold the driver point/socket and a striking surface on the other.

Striking the opposite end of the tool with a hammer causes the point to rotate with the impact. They also have a collar which can be set for right hand or left hand rotation.

Cheap ones are $20...and work fine (blue one below). More expensive (commercial grade) ones are $50 (dark colored one below).

great idea im going to build one of these

i had bad luck with one of those cheap impact screwdrivers the dang tip broke off in the screw and i couldn't get the sucker out i ended up grinding a slot in the screw and turning it into a flathead then using my buddies snap-on impact screwdriver that did the trick