screw loose

[steplift20]

1978 steplift center floor panel i have a screw that can not bet tightened and is loose the panel is coming up on that side, my question is this how do i fix it? i know the obvious solution is to use a bigger screw but i dont think that would work, should i remove the whole panel and see whats going on or is there a easier solution
thanks for any help in this matter
joe

[smokeonthewater]

...... should i remove the whole panel and see whats going on or is there a easier solution......

joe


YES you should..... OR if you don't want to find wood rot you could glue the panel down with 3m 5200 and glue the screw in w it n go fishing

[bradford]

I would think the hole had just been over tightened and stripped out. You could remove the panel and epoxy a strip of wood below the lip where the panel fits and use a longer screw that is able to get some bite.

[steplift20]

bradford that will work but i really ddnt want to remove the panel but i think thats the best way to go thanks
want kind of epoxy would you recommend

[bgreene]

4200 is a little " less permanent than 5200 "............either good.

[phatdaddy]

west marine has a stainless toggle bolt for blind fastener applications


http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=18689&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50821&subdeptNum=50822&classNum=50825#.UuW4_H9OKSM

[smokeonthewater]

bradford that will work but i really ddnt want to remove the panel but i think thats the best way to go thanks
want kind of epoxy would you recommend

ANY 2 part epoxy would be fine for this... (including what you get in the double syringe at walmart) you could even mix up some saw dust n epoxy n fill the hole... then re-drill n re-screw

4200 is a little " less permanent than 5200 "............either good.

agree 4200 would actually be a better choice than 5200 here

[Destroyer]

You guys are overthinking this. If all you want to do is get the screw to bite and you don't want to remove the panel to see whats behind it then just take some wooden toothpicks, dunk them in Elmers Carpenters Glue (The outside type) put them still wet into the hole, break them off flush with the top, then screw the screw back in. The whole thing should take less than 3 minutes to fix.

Basically it's the same kind of fix you use to repair an oversize screw hole in a door hinge. The beauty of this repair is that you can still unscrew the screw at a later date to see what's really going on behind that panel. You can't do that if you use epoxy.

[steplift20]

i like that one destroyer simple and yet effective and of course easy but i still like the togle bolt and other sugestions keep them coming

[smokeonthewater]

probing with a small pick in the hole (no comments! lol) can give you an idea of the condition of the wood without removing the cover....

[macojoe]

The way i have fixed holes is put glue of choise on a golf t hammer in the hole cut off flush, let dry then screw will hold. but thats just a fast fix, being that i had a v about same year (76) i am going to say remove the cover when can and fix the right way!!

[bradford]

What MJ said, I had forgotten about it, but have done it and it works.

[randlemanboater]

I've had a loose nut behind the steering wheel for years.:happy:

[Destroyer]

The way i have fixed holes is put glue of choice on a golf tee. Than hammer it into the hole, cut it off flush, let dry then the screw will hold. But that's just a fast fix, being that i had a v about same year (76) i am going to say remove the cover when you can and fix it the right way!!

Yep. Basically that's a variation of the toothpicks fix I described. I've also heard of drilling the hole round, pounding in a dowel coated with glue, and then putting in the screw. The whole idea is to fill the oversized hole with sound wood that the screw can "bite" into. But like both MJ, myself and several others have said, the only "real" fix is to remove the cover and see whats going on behind it with the wood. In the long run it's probably the easiest and quickest repair.