Cutting Stainless Steel Screws off??

I am redecking my aluminum snowmobile trailer and a few of the stainless steel self tapping screw heads twisted off when I was trying to pull them.

Of course they are in the corners or along the edge and not real easy to get at. Already tried spraying them down once with liquid wrench and once with JB80 letting them soak and going at them with a vice grip but they are in there good and the headless screw doesn’t allw for much to grab.

Anyone know if there are small cutting wheels(size of a bottle cap or so) that I can get for my drill that will cut stainless?

Or any other ideas?

No room for a hacksaw or sawsall with a metal cutting blade.

Not sure if I would bother trying to take them out if they are in a tough spot. If you can put the decking over it, pound it down, then run a screw in next to it. Hard to say for sure without pictures.

Yes Dremel tools have small cutting wheels that are the size of a quarter and thin.Work well on tight places. Home Depot has them in a kit. Hope this helps.

First thing that came to mind was a dremel. I have one and the small disks work well though they are fragile. Depends on how much space you have to work with.

Yes, get a handful of the discs. They shatter easy and wear eye protection.

Most all of the multi-tools like a Dremel either have a cutting wheel or hacksaw type blades down to an inch in size. I cut many screws off with mine while re-flooring my boat. I have a rigid from Home Depot and love it. The angled drill head also come in handy while re-decking.

I had the same problem when I re-did mine. Just break them off and run a screw next to it. A cold chisel and 2# hammer works wonders

Dremel or a sharp chisel.

Oscillating tool. My Dremel gets lonely since I got mine.

Menards cheapo oscillating tool that works well

Snapping them off with a hammer or adjustable wrench would be the way I went unless you want a reason to buy a new tool. They break off flush most of the time with a few hits with a hammer.

Pneumatic die grinder with a cutoff wheel or get a 4″ cutoff wheel for and angle grinder.

I could have my sister in law come over and scream at it til it falls to the ground!

I would invest in a good set of extractors.

Give me a call JB. I’ve got the dremel, and may even have some discs for you to try.

Start with bigger drill bit than the head to get a center. Then change to a drill bit the size of the thread and the head will come off in order to pull off the floor.

I like cobalt bits to cut stainless.

The Dremal tool and the fiber cutoff disks have gotten me out of more jams than I can count. Wherever rusted bolts, sripped screws, rounded bolt heads, etc are an issue, the Dremal is the cure.

They make 2 types of cutoff disks, there is a heavy duty fiber reinforced and then a very thin abrasive one. You want the fiber HD disks and get a whole package of them.

My dad found some diamond-grit cutoff disks on eBay and they are expensive, but very good. Slower than the fiber reinforced, but they last much longer.

Grouse

Thanks for all the replies.

I was able to back most of the screws out starting them with a socket to break them loose then switch to the drill to back them out. Worked great except for the ones that were really stuck, busted 5 torx bits trying to break them loose. The ones that wouldn’t come I either busted the heads off(not intentionally) or drilled the old wood out around them so I could get the decking off then got them with a big channel lock once they were exposed so I could get at them.

All the decking is off now I just need to clear the few stumps and then I can lay new decking.

I think my in-laws have a dremel….if not I’ll give you a call Brunn.

Well I got the decking off and the screws out….in the process I was looking at the axles and how rusty they were looking so I pulled them off and had them sandblasted and painted professionally. Picked them up Thurs night and got them back on the trailer today. Looking good so far.

Now the issue is finding 5/8″ 5 ply plywood. I didn’t think it would be that hard but Menards, Lowes, Home Depot and Siweks don’t stock it.
Calling Scherer Bros tomorrow to see if they have it…if not apparently I am going to have to order it.

Have you looked into marine plywood? I know it is more expensive, but if you can swing some extra cash you should go that route. My father-in-law replaced his plywood with marine plywood and it still looks like new. Just thought I would throw the idea out there.