AC Fan birdcage screw stripped

[Ddagsyn]

I removed the fan (birdcage) on top of my carrier AC to hose down the evaporator coil as i had a lot of debris due to the hurriance and noticed that two of the screws to secure the birdcage to the unit would not tighten. It seems that the hole is stripped. What can i do to fix this?
Please any suggestions
Thanks

 

[Jadnashua]

You might be able to drill it out and tap to the next larger screw size. Before you drill, make sure you have the proper sized drillbit for the tap. An alternative would be to put in a helicoil, but that requires yet a bigger hole and the tools to install the helicoil.

 

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[Bill Arden]

1. Drilling the cage part larger so that a larger self tapping screw can be used.

2. Adding a "clip nut" and use a machine screw.

3. Adding a backside (somehow) nut and use a machine screw.

4. Ignore the problem. Sometimes just having the screw in the hole is good enough.