Japanese philips head screws

[RX1Jim]

For those of us who do at lot of our own work on Yamaha sleds, stripping the heads of the philips head screws is pretty common. The screws on the carb float bowls are notorious for stripping easily. The philips head screws used by Yamaha are not a good match to the standard philips screwdrivers because the screws are Japanese industrial standard, JIS. The profile of the JIS screw head is just slightly different, different enough so a standard philips driver does not get a full "bite". A supply house I use for work, McMaster Carr (www.mcmastercarr.com) has a set of four JIS screwdrivers for about $28. I just ordered a setand I'll let you know how they work.

 

[sleddhead1]

valve lapping compound

Put a little dab of valve lapping compound on the tip of the screwdriver,you will be suprised how good they grip

 

[Black 1000]

Use a PZ2 posi drive phillips

 

[Viper_Dave]

I took a plain #2 Phillips and ground the center point down. This allows all for points to fully engage in the screw. Cheap and effective!!

 

[buddah]

An interesting side note, since I worked for Honda for 20 yrs.......The Japanese associates don't refer to screwdrivers as Phillips or flat-blade.....they simply call them "plus" and "minus".......FYI

 

[RaWarrior]

I've found that a dab of Soft-Scrub cleaner works well, similar to the valve compound in texture.

I bought a cheapo set of screwdrivers a while ago and have "modified" almost all of them in some way. Some are bent at odd angles, some have the tips ground down, ect. They come in handy for the right job, and the whole set of 10 only cost me like $20.