How to remove hourglass style bolts?

[Hogger54]

Anyone found a good way to remove the bolts with the hourglass looking hole on top?
My flat heads are either too small or too big.

[whiskeywayne]

These screws are known as clutch head screws, they make a screwdriver or bits to fit these, common on the AD trucks.

[daveboy]

You can pick these up at most automotive stores. But, you probably won't find them at the local Wal-Mart. I just got a set of bits and a driver from Auto Zone.

daveboy

[mechanixman]

Harbor freight has a 40 piece set that has 3 sizes of these bits, Menards has a 16 piece set that has 2 sizes of clutch head screws. Both are fairly cheap.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I don't know whose it is but whoever has the GIANT avatar of their torn up GMC interior can you PLEASE change it to a normal size like everyone else has?

I can't imagine I'm the only one who is seeing this. I check in on the site on my phone and this giant photo screws up trying to see anyone's response.

[Hogger54]

Cool. Thanks for the info. Gotta make a Harbor Freight run, I'll grab a set.

[_Ogre]

for interior screws i grind a flathead screw driver to fit in the slot, then i discard the screws
for the rear fender to bed bolts i bought a single clutch head socket from snap-on back in the early 70s

[62lwbc10]

Classic Parts sells a set of four clutch head screwdrivers. Absolutely necessary if you are serious about restoring or maintaining the AD or TF trucks.

http://www.classicparts.com/1941-66-...ctinfo/98-001/

[Daze57]

^ yep !!!!!

[starterman99]

For the ones in rear fenders,I welded a nut to the top and used my 3/8 impact to take them apart.I used a modified flat blade screwdriver on interior screws.I replaced all with new hardware on reassembly

[gale]

And I have clutch head sockets from Snap-On.

[76er]

Hope they worked better for you than they did on mine. All they did on mine no matter how hard you pressed was rotate right of the hour glass slot or round the slot out, still looking for a way to get mine out.

[gale]

Originally Posted by 76er

Hope they worked better for you than they did on mine. All they did on mine no matter how hard you pressed was rotate right of the hour glass slot or round the slot out, still looking for a way to get mine out.

I used the clutch drive socket to hold the bolts while I used a butterfly impact on the nuts. Two or three bolts twisted off. The Snap-On tool appears to be much harder stuff than the screwdriver types found at auto parts stores.

It would be easier to access the bolt head but it will tear out the indentation before the nut comes loose. It helps to use Kroil or something on the threads a few hours before attacking it.

[fangard]

Originally Posted by Hogger54

Anyone found a good way to remove the bolts with the hourglass looking hole on top?
My flat heads are either too small or too big.

I needed a clutch head, but I thought I would look around the house before I went out and bought one. I found a square head bit that we used for deck screws. It fit perfect!

[DransportGarage]

I've got some like-new visegrips, and if you clip them on nose-first, they fit 'em perfectly! (Well, now you guys know how screwed up I am...)

[Hogger54]

Great info. That's why I love this place.

I didn't want to buy the whole kit that HF had. I'm going to try that robertson bit, if all else fails... Snap-on.
I like the idea of the bit design, but I'm swapping mine out to more standard heads.

[gale]

I have Snap-On tools so it wasn't a stretch to buy the correct tools. My '67 step side uses Phillips head bolts. I don't know when the clutch head was phased out but there are four different sizes used around the '54.

[Link X]

If you weld a bolt to the head of the clutch head it does two things- heats and loosens the rust, then use a regular socket to remove, less chanch of snapping off( use higer than norm heat setting on welder)