Remove stuck manifold screws Genesis 1000


 

Jeff Hanson

New member
I started stripping and cleaning my Genesis 1000 today. The wire brush did a pretty good job inside but I’m leaning toward bringing a pile of metal parts to a sandblaster. I also took survey of all the replaceable parts and ordered some new ones.

The rails for the slide out tray are pretty rusty but I was able to remove the screws without much effort on a small ratchet. The left side frame mounting screw looked like a rusty metal toothpick and the rusty hole in the cross bar where it was attached is big enough for a mouse to crawl in. I have seen the video on how to cut that out and replace with new stock, which I will do.

The drip pan and slide out tray and the flavor bars are all pretty beat up so I ordered new ones. The grill bars and hanging basket themselves are meh serviceable but I ordered some new ones anyway. The burners are rusty but ok except the rear one has a crack thru about 1/3-1/2 of the holes on the forward facing side, which explains the extreme hot spot in that back left corner, so I ordered some new pipes too.

The problem I am having is removing the screws attaching the brackets on the manifold to the fire box. They are size 5 metric hex head bolts, and I tried to break them free but am a little scared I’ll either strip them or crack the box.

Does anyone have any advice on how to free them up? Should I use penetrating oil, or maybe some heat? I have a heat gun but I could just fire up the grill too I guess. Pics of all this attached
 

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Good stuff. Do you have to drill them out after snapping them off? Grind down the head first?
If I'm lucky the bolt comes out clean.

I snap it off from the outside and then work the bolt out with a box end or vice grips from the inside.

Worst case is it both sides of the bolt snap and leaves a portion of the bolt in the cookbox. Personally I've not had that happen but I've read it can happen.

Edit: vice grips twisting from the inside has worked well for me after snapping the wingnut on the outside.
 
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