Honda Rotor Screw Removal

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The Critic

The Critic

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I understand that most people use a manual impact driver (the kind you hit with a hammer) to remove the infamous Honda rotor hat screws.

I have a cordless Makita impact driver, but not a manual one. Can I use a cordless impact driver or should I really buy myself a manual one as well?

Thanks.
 
I think you mar strip the screw if you use Makita impact driver, I bought Powerbuilt 648002 1/2-Inch Drive Impact Driver Kit from Amazon for $12, check Harbor Freight or local parts stores to see if they have it.
 
I used a $7 HF impact driver successfully for the set screws on my Civic. The tool was a piece of [censored] and needed some oiling and working in to get it to work properly. I used a rubber mallet to wail on it, and it got the screws out with no damage. I used plenty of anti-seize when I put them back in.

I'm as cheap as they come but spending $7 for the right tool for the job (even if its kind of a piece of junk) was worth it in this case.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
I think you mar strip the screw if you use Makita impact driver, I bought Powerbuilt 648002 1/2-Inch Drive Impact Driver Kit from Amazon for $12, check Harbor Freight or local parts stores to see if they have it.

OK I just bought that via prime, thanks.

I didn't think a cordless impact driver would work; I had a feeling that it would deliver too much torque and destroy the head.
 
I think most guys use the manual impact driver the same way I used to back when I used to break bits very frequently. Hold the screwdriver tightly with one hand and use the other hand to smack it with a screwdriver until the screw comes loose or the bit breaks. A bit has maybe a 1 in 5 chance of breaking that way.

I stopped doing it that way because removing the screw with a broken bit can take a lot longer than just drilling the heads off all four screws with no screwdriver bits stuck in them. An alternative approach that seems to work a lot better:

Use one hand to just support the weight of the impact driver. Use the other hand to repeatedly hammer the driver allowing the body of the tool to float freely. The impact driver will automatically reverse it's direction of rotation after each hammer blow. Once the head of the screw moves a little, then it is safe to hold the driver firmly and keep rotation in the unscrew direction as it will not break it's bit.
 
Hammer Drill (NOT impact) works great on Honda rotor set screws. If that doesn't work, just drill em. Don't need em anyway. Just holds the rotors on during manufacturing, since the calipers are not added until later.
 
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Originally Posted By: JamesBond
I used a $7 HF impact driver successfully for the set screws on my Civic.


I've used my $7 HFT special on a Hyundai, Honda and Toyota product thus far. They're like magic on rotor hold down screws. I hit it with a brass mallet. It doesn't even distort the phillips head on the screws.

Joel
 
I've had the same piece of junk Taiwanese hand held impact driver that I bought at Western Auto when I worked there.

With the #3 bit, It handles the rotor screws in one strike. (May take two in the rustbelt)

Those screws are made out of case hardened Velveeta. The electric impact would rip those things up and force drilling them out.
 
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
I've had the same piece of junk Taiwanese hand held impact driver that I bought at Western Auto when I worked there.

With the #3 bit, It handles the rotor screws in one strike. (May take two in the rustbelt)

Those screws are made out of case hardened Velveeta. The electric impact would rip those things up and force drilling them out.


???
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
I understand that most people use a manual impact driver (the kind you hit with a hammer) to remove the infamous Honda rotor hat screws.

I have a cordless Makita impact driver, but not a manual one. Can I use a cordless impact driver or should I really buy myself a manual one as well?

Thanks.

You need the manual impact driver! I tried that and stripped the heads of the first two screws. I spent the next 90 minutes trying to drill the heads of the screws off. Went out and bought the manual impactor and got both screws off in 90 seconds...

Save your sanity!

Regards, JC.
 
Screw knocker is another option. It's used in a rivet gun but it may work in an air chisel.

http://www.yardstore.com/browse.cfm/4,3698.html
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
I think you mar strip the screw if you use Makita impact driver, I bought Powerbuilt 648002 1/2-Inch Drive Impact Driver Kit from Amazon for $12, check Harbor Freight or local parts stores to see if they have it.

I used this thing tonight, and it is a piece of ....

It did not do the job at all. It simply destroyed the heads of the screws, and did not move them at all. The were visually in perfect shape, no signs of corrosion or rust on any part of this car.

I had to drill out 3 of the 4 screws.
mad.gif
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
I've had the same piece of junk Taiwanese hand held impact driver that I bought at Western Auto when I worked there.

With the #3 bit, It handles the rotor screws in one strike. (May take two in the rustbelt)

Those screws are made out of case hardened Velveeta. The electric impact would rip those things up and force drilling them out.


???


Yeah. If it didn't work, I'd call it junk.
crazy.gif
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
I think you mar strip the screw if you use Makita impact driver, I bought Powerbuilt 648002 1/2-Inch Drive Impact Driver Kit from Amazon for $12, check Harbor Freight or local parts stores to see if they have it.

I used this thing tonight, and it is a piece of ....

It did not do the job at all. It simply destroyed the heads of the screws, and did not move them at all. The were visually in perfect shape, no signs of corrosion or rust on any part of this car.

I had to drill out 3 of the 4 screws.
mad.gif



Are you sure you're using it correctly?

I've used impact drivers a lot of times and they work very well. Mine is a cheap made in Taiwan version that I bought at an auto parts store. The last time I used it was to removed rusted rotor screws on my Hyundai.

My guess would be that perhaps you had is set the wrong direction. On mine, it's somewhat difficult to determine which direction it is set to. You have to actuate it by hand to determine what direction it will turn when you hit it.

In theory, I suppose if the screw was so rusted and stuck that even the impact driver couldn't remove it, then it would just mangle the head. But I've never run into that situation.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
I think you mar strip the screw if you use Makita impact driver, I bought Powerbuilt 648002 1/2-Inch Drive Impact Driver Kit from Amazon for $12, check Harbor Freight or local parts stores to see if they have it.

I used this thing tonight, and it is a piece of ....

It did not do the job at all. It simply destroyed the heads of the screws, and did not move them at all. The were visually in perfect shape, no signs of corrosion or rust on any part of this car.

I had to drill out 3 of the 4 screws.
mad.gif



Are you sure you're using it correctly?

I've used impact drivers a lot of times and they work very well. Mine is a cheap made in Taiwan version that I bought at an auto parts store. The last time I used it was to removed rusted rotor screws on my Hyundai.

My guess would be that perhaps you had is set the wrong direction. On mine, it's somewhat difficult to determine which direction it is set to. You have to actuate it by hand to determine what direction it will turn when you hit it.

In theory, I suppose if the screw was so rusted and stuck that even the impact driver couldn't remove it, then it would just mangle the head. But I've never run into that situation.


I did have some doubts about this, but I can confirm that the impact driver was set to L for loosen as per the instructions.
 
I have a Craftsman hand impact driver that removes the screws. The 1/2 inch phillips head socket it came with was easily damaged so I bought 1/2 inch Phillips Head from Snap-on.

The combo works well.
 
I also have the Craftsman hand impact driver. It took a little practice to make sure the tool was going to turn in the correct direction. Once I had my technique mastered, all of the rotor flat head screws came out easily.... about 4-5 hits with my rubber mallet... I've also used that tool for other things...
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic

I used this thing tonight, and it is a piece of ....

It did not do the job at all. It simply destroyed the heads of the screws, and did not move them at all.


Critic, I'm not getting it..

Is the Powerbuilt 648002 model the type you whack with a mallet? From the pics of this tool online it looks like some type of chuck for a drill motor.

Like I say, I've yet to have an issue with my HFT special and I've had at some nasty rust-belt rotor screws. One or two whacks and they back right out. It doesn't even leave any visible marks to the Phillips head.

Joel
 
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