The Texas BBQ Forum

Hi everyone, new to this forum. Hopefully, there other geezers besides me here on this forum. I have a Kitchenaid (Nextgrill) dating back to 2014. Its in fairly decent shape. I need to replace one burner and electrode. However, I can not unscrew the screws holding the electrode. I have stripped them off trying remove. have attached the pic. Can someone recommend a decent set of screw extractors? My other option is to cut something off with Rockwell oscillating tool. Of course any and all suggestions are welcome. Sorry if the image size is too large.

Grind off the entire head, remove the part, soak the exposed stub/threads with Kroil (anything else is a waste of time) and try to grab the stubs with vice grips.
First motion should be clockwise, as in to tighten so that some more Kroil gets deeper into the threaded hole.
Then rock the stub back and forth, as in tighter-looser, while at the same time spraying more Kroil at the threads.
Let the Kroil soak for several days and re-apply three times a day at least.

Warning, Kroil stinks pretty bad so when you get the stubs out be prepared to do some serious washing to get the kroil out of there.

If your going to replace the burner tube and spark igniter, i would see if you can find the support piece between the two as well. if its not to outragoues just replace it all. time and headache to get that apart would be worth it. or just drill it out.

Probably in a tight space, just me but if possible I would simply drill through the head completely with a metal bit about the size of the shanks, and then replace with stainless steel sheet metal screws. Might have to up the size 1 notch to fit after the drilling, like from a 10 to an 8. Lowes carries them, unfortunately SS is not cheap but gets the job done.

Drill the heads off remove the burner tube and back the screw out from the bottom gripping them with small vise grips.

Thanks to all for replying. I am going to drill them out. Broke one titanium bit trying to do just that. Perhaps I was putting too much pressure, I will take it easy on the next try..

Home Depot has these:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-Spira ... /205469301

A little more expensive, but a more complete set (comes with the drill bits).

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vermont-Ame ... /202850653

I can part with 10 bucks and try it. I will post the results
Thanks.

Drilling the right size hole for the Extractor is key.
Extractor needs to be able to bite into the screw-head.

Those screws are probably only a #8 or #10 I doubt an extractor is a viable option in this case.

Alright then. It’s been about a week struggling with the screw issues. Before I was in a hurry to fix the grill before the 4th. Never ever have I gone without a grill on this special day but I did. First time For everything. After buying several extractors and cobalt bits, still no luck. I guess I probably should hire a third grader to fix this problem? Anyway, what I have decided is to cut off the attachment holding screws to the burner since I am replacing the burner. That brings up another interesting dilemna, how to attach the igniter/wire to the new burner especially with my skill set.

Go back and read my post, the answer to your problem was contained therein.
I'm a retired master auto tech and Kroil is pure magic when it comes to rusted stuck screws/nuts/bolts.
The only thing that was better was a product sold by American Motors to remove stuck exhaust manifold bolts but it's been unavailable for a decade (I think?).

I will trY it again. I did see a long two part video of a machinist trying get stuck bolt out an engine clock. It Was entertaining and long. He did however, was blessed with lots of different tools.

Instead of using a grinder to cutoff the screw heads,you can use a large drill bit, but if you have to use one (as opposed to a small grind stone that will fit a hand drill, you may cut of too much of the stem to be able to get a grip on it afterwards.
Don't forget the Kroil, soaking the stuck stem is key.