Breaking loose screws

Just sell the trailer and buy another. Much less work.

 

If you punch out the old screws, it will save many broken drill bits.

 

No doubt. Using drill bits is always a last resort. Leave the broken ones in the holes. Just put in new self tappers like were originally used 1/4 inch away from the old ones and send it.
If they are steel crossmembers they can be up to 3/16” or 1/4” thick. Those screws are designed to go in and lock themselves in so they wont loosen. Most won’t even back out easy when they are brand new and just put in.

 

I replaced some on my dry van. Amazingly, I got them all out. Used a 1/2” drive hand socket. PB and working them back and forth. What I did for the tough screws, is cut the wood out, with a circular saw. Cut close to screws, and cut in between crossmembers, then pound wood out, leaving the screws in place. then pb blaster.I had to cut a few off a 1/4” die grinder and knock them out. I’m sure some heat would really help. The few that were stripped and wouldn’t tighten up, I put fender clips, broken in half. Handy if working by yourself. Or a lock nut will work. They’re going to rust up good anyways. Hardest part is keeping the touge and grooves intact on old boards. If they’re T$G. If you’re crossmembers are aluminum, though, I’m not sure how that would work.

 

I removed all the torx screws on my upper deck a few months ago to get into the kingpin well. I have aluminum cross members with steel screws. Just twist all the heads off and remove the wood. Once you get the wood off you'll see why it's a waste of time to try to remove the screws whole. All the screw bodies will look like an hour glass from rotting inside the damp tight wood.

After the wood is out I heated up each screw with a mapp gas torch and melted a candle on the hot screw. Then used a vise grip to work the screw back and forth and eventually out. Sometimes a second heat and wax would be needed but, I got them all out and saved all the threaded holes. It goes pretty fast and wasn't as bad a job as I thought.

I initially was welding nuts to the broken screws but the little torch and vise grip was a lot faster. Don't forget the wax. The paraffin works wonders with corroded threads.