[ricster]

Hi
Having recently purchased a Howard 350 rotavator in need of some renovation and TLC,  whilst removing the air cleaner housing, one of the two screws that secure the plate to the carb has snapped off leaving a stub in the carb housing, urrgh.
Does anyone have any ideas how i can safely remove the broken screw stud from the carb without resorting to drilling it out? Any thoughts, ideas would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks,
Ricster

[smud6ie]

Is there any of the snapped off stub left protruding,if so how much?
smud6ie

[grendel]

a good soaking in proper penetrating oil - not wd40 - and if there is enough to grip a pair of mole grips to turn it, if its broken off flush, you may be able to grind a screwdriver slit with a dremel.
if you can get a nut on the stud you can centre punch the thread to the nut and use that to turn off the screw, if you can get 2 nuts on then you can lock them to each other and then use the inside one to unscrew the thread, it all depends how much stud you have sticking out.
application of heat to the area around the thread might help too (not too much if its alloy)
Grendel

[ricster]

thanks for the advice guys - unfortunately the stub of the screw is inside the threaded housing so cant attach tools to it - even needle nose pliers so guess drilling is my only option?

[muckshifter]

If the stud has broken off below the housing leaving enough threads exposed to screw a bolt into,carefully centre drill the bolt,screw it into the remaining threads then drill through the hole in the bolt into the broken stud thus ensuring a central drilling in the stud,remove the bolt and follow the pilot hole you have made in the stud with the correct size tapping drill for what ever thread it is then run the correct size tap down it.

[ricster]

thanks for the advice muckshifter, will try that and hope for the best!

[grendel]

as it happens, I now have the same problem with my norlett rotovator, I had just got a new exhaust and one of the old studs has sheared off flush, so I too will be drilling and retapping.
Grendel