Can't get HD off it's sled!

[sochet]

Hey guys,

My mac pro came this morning, so excited! I noticed though that the HD sleds on the '10 are about 1cm longer than those in the '08 (the '10 sleds fit in the '08 but not the other way round)

I'm trying to cannibalise the old stock HD in the '08 MP but for the life of me I can't get it off, it's screwed on too tight! I'm using a correct size (No.1) phillips screwdriver but it's not budging!


Any ideas? I could put it in the empty optical drive with the sled still attached, but I don't think that would do the drive any good. Plus I want to put a SSD in there soon.

All I can think of is either using a electric drill (VERY carefully) or some WD40, (again VERY carefully). Neither option is very appealing to me and I don't have a drill :/

Any ideas?


Thanks!

 

[cal6n]

I'd probably try a right-angled screwdriver with the correct tip. Failing that, a long-nosed vice-grip applied VERY carefully...

 

[Cocoia]

Hey guys,

My mac pro came this morning, so excited! I noticed though that the HD sleds on the '10 are about 1cm longer than those in the '08 (the '10 sleds fit in the '08 but not the other way round)

I'm trying to cannibalise the old stock HD in the '08 MP but for the life of me I can't get it off, it's screwed on too tight! I'm using a correct size (No.1) phillips screwdriver but it's not budging!


Any ideas? I could put it in the empty optical drive with the sled still attached, but I don't think that would do the drive any good. Plus I want to put a SSD in there soon.

All I can think of is either using a electric drill (VERY carefully) or some WD40, (again VERY carefully). Neither option is very appealing to me and I don't have a drill :/

Any ideas?


Thanks!

You know I have the exact same thing. I just can't get the damned drive off. It's the factory-installed one in an '08. No solution really, just chiming in.

 

[strausd]

Did you shred the screw? Same thing happened in mine. I used the correct screw and it was just on too tight the screw started to shred. I was freaking out and tried a few different things til I finally got it out. I used the scissor clamp in this toolkit to unscrew it. I just used that to hold the rim of the screw tightly and then twisted. You could probably do the same thing with tweezers or something like that. But that is how I did it. All other 3 sleds were fine because they did not come with a harddrive already in, it was only the first sled.

 

[nanofrog]

I'm trying to cannibalise the old stock HD in the '08 MP but for the life of me I can't get it off, it's screwed on too tight! I'm using a correct size (No.1) phillips screwdriver but it's not budging!

There's a few things you could try:

• Heat (soldering iron would work best, but a heat gun or hair dryer might do it as well; assumes some Loctite compound was used)
• Solvent (again, assuming there's loctite on the screws; shouldn't be, but you could try acetone, which is usually used in nail polish remover). Nitromethane is the best, but hard to find (Loctite used to sell it, but it's no longer listed on their site, it's also used in fuel for Funny Cars).
• Penetrating oil (best to get it in a small bottle with a precision nozzle, not a spray can, as you can control the flow)

I don't recall Loctite being used, so I'd presume the person that assembled the system cross-threaded the screw/s. If this is the case, the penetrating oil may help (use a good amount of downforce on the screwdriver as you turn slowly to keep it from backing out and stripping out the Phillips head in the screw). Otherwise, get a screw removal device, such as this (you may have to go this way in the end...).

And you'd need new screw/s to reinstall it. Also keep in mind, the drive's threads will be messed up due to cross threading (not by you), so be careful reinstalling it not to overtighten.

Good luck.

 

[CaptainChunk]

One screw from the boot drive sled in my '08 was a bear to get off; and so much so, that it even popped the rubber anti-vibration gasket out of the sled. It was stupidly annoying to get that that thing back in. There was no Loctite on the screws, either. Sometimes, I think it's simply a case of Apple tightening the screws too much during assembly.

I've also noticed that you have to be pretty careful screwing drives down into the sleds because they cross-thread pretty easily on some drives.