Door Striker & Latch Removal Tool

[ixfxi]

Simple question but Im sure people dont remove these the right way, because I always see the philips screws fucked to death.

Is there a heavy-duty specialized tool for breaking and removing these philips bolts? Sometimes they are impossible to remove, absolutely no way with a normal screw driver. I am thinking that the only solution is for me to buy philips bit sockets that would attach to my 3/8" drive wrench.

just curious if anyone has any additional ideas, as in actual solutions. not shitty patch-fix solutions.


feel free to chime in

[ixfxi]

oh yeah, the other thing i was thinking is that theyre removed and installed with an impact driver. hmmm

[YucA]

When I needed to remove this krap I was able to find a craftsman phillips head screw driver that fit properly. Clamped some large vise-grips on the screw driver and was able to put enough forward pressure and crank the vise-grips enough to break em...

Although an impact gun with the proper bit will make it a million times easier...

[ixfxi]

well boys, looks like i answered my own question.

in case any of you fuckers need to know this in the future, here is the proper tool:
Impact driver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_driver)

since i am not one for power tools, i'll be buying a hardcore manual impact driver in the near future.

[clark]

for lack of a better term, use that phillips bit that's really thick. i can't expalin it, you know how normal phillips bits are kinda pointy. i'm referring to the phillips bit that is too big to fit into anything, except this application.

definitely cant' generate enough torque from a normal screw driver so yeah, 3/8" rachet, 3/8" to 1/4" socker adaptor, 1/4" socket that fits those standard sized screw bits.

they also have screw drivers that you can push on and it will twist in the direction you set it to.

[sil80 monster]

http://www.thud.us/cartech/impact-screwdriver.jpg

[projectRDM]

Um, wow Mike. Didn't know you were so green.

Impact driver is the only correct way to remove those screws without rounding them out. Nearly every Japanese car ever made is in the same boat.

[ixfxi]

relax russ, theres always something we dont know.

im not a body guy. i paid my body shop to paint the car but not to assemble it. this past year has been a learning experience when it comes to chassis & body assembly.

never seen an impact driver in my life, so this was news to me. and even after finding my own answer in the second post i get people talking about vice grips... ;-)

ultimately, i dont like power tools so im glad that there was a non-power solution to this dilemma.

[lazysk8er2]

yeah i like the manual ones...just slam it with a hammer and it loosens its pretty cool... especially usefull when its a rust bolt.

[red240]

Mike I tried the impact driver as shown above and it did not help, What did work is my heat gun
I heated them up and they came right loose with a large Phillips ,even the one that got a little messed up with the impact came out
Hope this helps!!

[tangch]

i used my stanley philip screw driver, and it was easy to remove. maybe it was lose already....

[red240]

Went out to the garage and checked and mine was a #4 Phillips tip
Here is a bad pic of it
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i171/wide240sx/DSCF1797.jpg

[ixfxi]

fyi.........

the reason i made my post isnt because mine are jammed or anything, its because mine are on hand-tight with a normal screw driver. the car is just floating in my garage so its not going anywhere for another year or so (hopefully 2010 convention if anything)

but what i wanted to know was, the proper way to re-torque them on. it appears the impact driver would be the best way to re-secure the strikers back onto the body.

the other thing i was thinking was to use a 3/4" phillips bit with a torque wrench, but again.. im just thinking out loud here. i havent even checked my fsm to check the torque spec on these.

[Om1kron]

yeah, after you spend the money on that tool mike, I will drive by your shop and re-torque mine. It took some fucking RAMBO strength to pop those loose with a regular screw driver on my car.

[ixfxi]

yeah, after you spend the money on that tool mike, I will drive by your shop and re-torque mine. It took some fucking RAMBO strength to pop those loose with a regular screw driver on my car.

if i get it in time, i'll bring it with me when i come to failtana for that fucking miata motor.

[[email protected]]

http://www.thud.us/cartech/impact-screwdriver.jpg

Big 2nd on this tool, i used this very same driver to remove my striker on the 300ZX when i was doing paint work, it worked great.

[g6civcx]

In addition to the hand impact bit driver, if the bolt is too stubborn, you can weld another piece on top of the bolt and then turn the welded piece.

You can also drill out the bolt and retap for a new bolt. Just make sure you use countersunk bolts so it will clear the door latch.

Good luck.