Replacing the Idler pulley on my dryer and it appears I over tightened the screw and apparently stripped or widened the threaded hole. Any advice?
All kidding aside eatonpcat, I don’t think you should refer to your hunny that way... oh wait- that was more kidding. Seriously meow... can you tap that hole to the next size? Real question/suggestion.
I think the JB Weld is what I will try. You funny Eric!! Not sure if the location of the hole can be relocate and still activate the drum switch
I don’t follow.... going to the next size thread would occur in the current screw location, right...? IDK- am I having a wildwest moment? Oh boy- I can see it coming....
My first thought too...or sometimes just going to a completely different type of thread all together will do the trick...switch from coarse to fine, or metric from sae, etc, etc...might could go to a machine thread and also put a nut on the back for reinforcement? On the metric/sae thing, sometime the next size metric will be about a 1/2 size bigger and go right in, especially on those self tappers in sheet metal. Oh, and one other trick I've done is to get a rivet-nut...nut-sert...what ever you want to call it...drill the hole out, insert the nut, use a bolt/washer/nut to crimp it in place, install new bolt/pulley. Pic of what I am talking about... Before After
Whoops, must have been the Blue Smoothies...I thought you said to drill a new hole, not Upsize the hole
I've inserted an appropriately-sized piece of a zip tie into stripped holes and then inserted the screw with some success. I think that's a long shot here though. It looks like you might also be able to insert another piece of metal behind the stripped hole. The metal strip would have a hole in it and would need to be longer to allow you to keep it from turning while tightening the screw. You could also drill a hole next to the stripped hole and install a u-nut like the one below.
Call a QUALIFIED repairman? J/k I'd probably try drilling and tapping for a machine bolt. Say, 1/4-20 or some other "standard size". A little blue lock tight to keep things together... Good luck brother!
Wow, I never heard of these before! That is good info and Harbor Freightie has a nice kit! Threaded Insert Riveter Kit
They work great (the nut-serts...I'm not familiar with the HF kit) especially if you need to put machine threads on the back side of a blind panel, or just don't want to fool with a separate nut on the back side...
