Any ideas for replacing igniter fire pot screws are stripped

[ross1987]

Hi everyone,
So I need to replace the igniter, watched the videos got all hyped ready to go but when I went to remove the fire pot all the screws pretty much immediately stripped, with very little effort. Will be trying a screw extractor but I'm not expecting much haha.

 

[Steve In Pa]

Do you mean the threading on the head got stripped, where the screwdriver head goes in

 

[ross1987]

Yes sir

 

[Steve In Pa]

Yes sir

I ran into something like that when I was trying to remove the cover of the fire pot. In my case what I did was get out my Dremel tool with a thin grinder blade and I was able to cut off the head of the screw. After removing the cover there was just a nub of the screw sticking out so I gave it a shot of anti-seize let it sit for a little bit and then using a pair of small vice grips was able to grab on and twist what was remaining of the screw out.
I hope that makes sense.
I think they need to come up with a better quality screw that doesn’t strip so easily.

 

[Capt Jim]

Dido for Steve's reply. Cut a slot with the dremel. If you have a manual impact wrench and hammer , use it to break the screw loose. I ran into the same issue and the impact wrench saved the day. I was fearing wallowing out the phillip screw heads if I tried too hard with a screwdriver. Also spray some penetrating oil on the screws, can't hurt.