Kirby Front Bearing Plate (516-1CR) - Dealing with Stuck Screws

[kirbyclassiciii]

My Dad continued his attempts to get the three remaining screws out from the front bearing plate on my Classic 1CR, to no avail. So, first thing he did was Dremel the heads off, then he will have to drill through the rest of the screws to remove them.

Have any of you experienced this before while repairing the front bearing plate group on models 516 to 1CR, and what tips would you recommend so this does not happen again?

~Ben

 

[texaskirbyguy]

HA!
I found myself doing the same thing after work while pulling three of these apart.

What I learned for next time:
Clean ALL of the dirt out of the screw heads and make sure your driver bit fits as perfectly as possible.
Use a good impact screwdriver unit.
Set to forward, hold lots of pressure on the tool, keep it straight, and give it one quick trigger blast to hopefully break it free.
Hit reverse, hold lots of pressure on the tool, keep it straight, and give it full beans to back them out.

The first screw I did I did not clean out, I used the impact, and the head deformed. It was all downhill from there and that one I drilled out. It was a scrap casting so I did not care.
If trying to drill into the old screws, try left handed drill bits (they rotate the reverse way). When they grab as they drill they could possibly back the shank out. Harbor Fright has them.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

texaskirbyguy

Rob,

I'll have him give it a try and see what happens! Thank you!

~Ben

 

[lesinutah]

Umm

Grind off screw heads. You could drill into screw slight smaller than the screw. Put tape on drill bit. You just want top of the screws are below bearing plate. It doesn't matter which method.
You pull up on shaft of armature. The bearing plate is no longer holding plate on. You just have to pop the seal. You can use a screwdriver pop bearing plate up. Use a rubber mallet as metal would ruin bearing plate.
Once said item is removed vice grips to unthread the rest of the screws. This happened to me six months ago. I just used a grinder cut top of the head of the screw do it's flush with top of bearing plate. I used a set tool put over screws push set down while pulling armature up.
Les

 

[huskyvacs]

Only drill the screws out as a last resort.

Make sure the screw and nut are clean and free of dirt first. You will need a screwdriver with the proper bit, usually a wide bit, and one that lets you get a good amount of torque behind it. Soak the screw in penetrating oil first, may take half an hour or so. Gently rock the screwdriver while unscrewing the screw forward and backward in short movements to try and break it loose. If that fails, get a mallet and whack the screwdriver onto the screw head a couple times to see if the shock will break the rust free and try again.

Never use power tools of any kind on vacuum cleaners because there is too much risk at damaging the screw or the screw post by over torquing the screw if it is plastic chassis with plastic screw posts or an aluminum cast screw that cannot take any hard amount of torque.

I've never had to drill out a screw yet, just need patience. Also when working on antique vacuums with a unique screw thread to the time that is virtually extinct, care must be taken not to damage the screw or the screw shaft itself either.

 

[lesinutah]

Ya

Mine was water logged brittle screws.
I did use dremmel grinder bit.
It was minimal marks. The screws twisted out. I got exact screws from hardware store before doing it. Les

 

[madman]

DO NOT DRILL!

If you cut the heads off the screws, they are no longer holding anything together. Separate the two pieces, then you should have enough of the screws sticking out to grab with vise grips. Do not attempt to unscrew them at first, instead, wiggle the vise grips back and forth VERY slightly until you feel the screw give and start turning. Even after that, you make have to turn it out and in then a little more out and keep repeating until it's out... depending on how stuck they are.

If the screws are hopelessly stuck, use fire. Be very cautious, though, aluminum doesn't let you know it's about to melt until it melts.

 

[lesinutah]

Yes

No drill use dremmel.
I only say this because it was surprisingly easy and effective.
Meh listen to reason.
That's huskyvacs and madmen. It worked for me but there really smart and we'll thought out.
Les

 

[dandagreer]

Here's what I did

After I stripped out the Phillips head, I soaked each one in WD-40. Then took a Dremel with a cutting wheel and cut a slot in the screw head to receive a wide slot bit, fairly deep so it has some bite. Then took an impact driver, start slow and let it hammer a bit without slipping, and it came right out.