TV Mount Screws Too Short or Bottoming Out: Spacers and Limits
The TV is off the wall, the bracket is loose and the screw has stopped moving. There are only two mechanical explanations, and they need opposite fixes — this is how to tell which one you have before you force anything.
Quick answer
Two opposite problems look identical. If the screw spins with almost no resistance and never bites, it is too short for the gap created by a curved or recessed rear panel — you need spacers or a longer screw of the same thread. If it turns in normally and then hits a hard stop, the threaded hole has a bottom, and forcing it strips the thread or pushes into the panel. Never drive past firm resistance.
- 1.Feel the difference: no resistance at all means it never reached; a sudden hard stop means it bottomed out.
- 2.Test each screw in the TV alone, without the bracket, to learn the real usable depth.
- 3.Add spacers for length problems, use a shorter screw for depth problems — never more force.
⚠ Electrical safety warning
- Unplug the TV from the mains and disconnect all sources before laying it down or working on the rear panel.
- A screw that has stopped advancing has bottomed out. Forcing it can strip the mounting thread permanently or push the boss inward toward the chassis and panel assembly — damage that is not repairable with off-the-shelf parts.
- Never use a drill, impact driver or power screwdriver on the TV's mounting holes. The threads are shallow and soft and will strip before you feel resistance.
- Lay the TV screen-down only on a thick blanket over a flat, clear surface. A screen resting on a stray screw or an uneven surface can crack without warning, and panel damage is generally not covered and rarely economical to repair.
- Get a second person for anything beyond the smallest sizes. Handling a large panel alone is how both TVs and backs get injured.
- Do not drill, re-tap or enlarge the TV's mounting holes. Beyond the risk to internal components close behind the bosses, it voids the warranty and leaves the mounting joint with no verifiable specification.
- Never hang a TV on fewer than all four intended mounting points, and never hang one where a thread has stripped. Stop and contact the manufacturer's support or a qualified installer.
- If you cannot confirm the correct screw specification from the manual or the manufacturer's support page, do not hang the TV — ask support with your exact model number first.
Before you turn that screw again
Stop applying force and unplug the TV. A screw that has stopped advancing is telling you something mechanical, and the next quarter turn is usually what strips the thread or pushes the mounting boss into the panel assembly behind it.
Work with the TV face down on a blanket over a flat, clear surface, and get a second pair of hands for anything beyond the smallest sizes. A screen resting on a stray screw or a remote control cracks without warning.
Two failures that feel identical and need opposite fixes
You are holding a screw that will not do its job, and there are only two mechanical explanations. Either the tip never arrives at the thread, or it arrives and runs out of thread. Through a screwdriver they feel similar, and they need opposite corrections: one wants more length, the other wants less.
Tell them apart by feel, not by looking. A screw that never reaches spins with almost no resistance for its entire travel — it feels like turning a screw in mid-air — and the bracket stays completely loose. A screw that has bottomed out turns normally, builds a little resistance, then hits a hard stop and refuses to advance while the bracket is still loose or rattling.
The reason this trips people up is that in both cases the outcome looks the same: the bracket moves. If you read that as "needs more force", you are about to damage the only part of the television designed to carry its own weight, and there is no bolt-on repair for a stripped mounting boss.
Symptom, cause, fix and what not to do
Match what the screwdriver is telling you to the row below before you change any hardware.
| What you feel | Likely cause | What to do | What NOT to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screw spins freely the whole way, never grips, bracket stays loose | The tip never reaches the threaded hole — a curved or recessed rear panel, or a thick bracket arm, has pushed the mounting surface further back | Fit the spacers supplied with the TV or the mount, or move to a longer screw of the same diameter and thread pitch | Don't switch to a wider screw or a self-tapping/wood screw to "get a bite" — the hole is a fixed metric thread |
| Screw turns in, then hits a hard stop while the bracket is still loose | The threaded boss is a blind hole with a finite depth and the screw has bottomed out against it | Use a shorter screw of the same diameter, or take up the surplus length with a correctly sized flat washer or spacer under the bracket arm | Don't lean on it, don't use an impact or power driver, and don't assume "one more turn" will seat it |
| Screw spins endlessly at the same depth with no tension building | The thread is stripped, or the screw was started at an angle and cross-threaded | Stop. Try a known-good screw by hand in a different hole to confirm the screw itself is fine, then contact the manufacturer's support with your model number | Don't fill the hole with glue or epoxy, don't re-tap it oversize, and don't hang the TV on the remaining points |
| Screw tightens but the bracket still rocks or sits at an angle | The bracket arm is resting on curved plastic instead of a flat surface, or the spacer stack is uneven between points | Use spacers so the arm seats flat and square, with identical thickness at all four mounting points | Don't overtighten one corner to close the gap — that loads the boss sideways and warps the arm |
Diameter and pitch have to match the tapped hole exactly. If a screw of the correct diameter will not start by hand in any hole, you have the wrong thread, not the wrong length.
Why the screw doesn't reach: curved backs and thick brackets
Many current televisions do not have a flat rear panel behind the VESA holes. The back is curved, stepped, or the mounting area sits in a recess with the plastic cover standing proud of it. Put a flat bracket arm against that and the arm touches plastic long before the screw finds the thread — so the screw runs out of length in the air.
That is exactly what the plastic or metal spacers in the box are for. They are not padding and they are not optional filler: they bridge the gap so the bracket sits on a flat plane, keeps the screw perpendicular to the hole, and stops the arm from levering against the rear cover. LG's wall mounting bracket manual walks through fitting spacers to the bracket, and explicitly tells you to check screw length when the screws will not tighten fully.
There is a second, less obvious source of the same problem: the bracket itself. Mechanically, the length that ends up gripping the thread is whatever is left after the screw has crossed everything in front of it, so a heavy-duty full-motion arm with thick steel plates needs a longer screw than a slim fixed bracket at the same VESA size. Any thickness you add in front of the mounting surface — bracket, spacer, washer — has to be added back onto the screw.
On sets with a curved or recessed rear panel it is common for the supplied hardware not to span the distance, and adding length is the right direction of travel. Before buying a longer screw, though, measure the usable thread depth of your own TV as described below — because the other end of the hole sets a limit of its own.
Why the screw stops halfway: the hole has a bottom
The mounting points on a TV are not through-holes. They are blind threaded bosses — a tapped insert or a tapped hole in the internal metal chassis — with a fixed usable depth. Once the screw reaches the end of that thread, it stops. That is not a jam you can free with force; it is the end of the hole.
Two things make it worse than it sounds. First, visible depth tells you nothing: part of what you can see down the hole may be the plastic rear cover rather than thread, which is why the usable depth has to be measured by hand on your own set. Second, what sits behind that boss is the chassis and, close by, the panel and internal boards. A screw driven hard past the end of its thread does not simply strip — it can push the insert inward or split it, and on some designs it can foul the parts you least want to touch.
Applied torque against a bottomed-out screw goes straight into the first few threads. That is how a mounting point gets destroyed in one confident turn. The threaded inserts in a television are small and shallow: when one gives way the resistance simply disappears, and the thread does not come back. Unlike a bracket or a screw, that is not a part you can buy.
How to diagnose and fix it without damaging the TV
Do this with the bracket completely removed from the TV. The whole point is to test the TV and the bracket separately before combining them.
- 1
Unplug the TV and lay it face down
Disconnect it from the mains and from all sources. Put it screen-down on a thick blanket over a flat surface, with nothing underneath it. Support large panels with a second person.
⚠ Never rest a screen on an uneven surface or leave hardware under it. Panels crack from point pressure, and that damage is not repairable.
- 2
Test one screw in the TV alone, by hand
Take a supplied screw and start it in a mounting hole with your fingers, no bracket, no spacer, no driver. It should engage within the first turn or so. If it will not start by hand in any hole, the diameter or pitch is wrong — stop and check the manual before going further.
- 3
Find the real usable depth
Turn that screw in by hand until it stops. Do not use a driver. Pinch the screw where it meets the rear surface, back it out, and mark that point with a strip of tape or a marker. The length from the tip to the mark is the depth you actually have to work with on that TV.
⚠ Stop at the first firm resistance. You are measuring, not fastening — any force here defeats the purpose of the test.
- 4
Measure everything that goes in front of it
Measure the thickness of the bracket arm where the screw passes through, plus the spacer you intend to use, plus any washer. Add them up. That total is what the screw has to cross before it reaches the thread.
- 5
Do the arithmetic before you touch the TV again
Engagement equals screw length minus everything in front of it. If that number is negative or near zero, the screw is too short and you need spacers or a longer screw. If the number is larger than the usable depth you marked in step 3, the screw will bottom out and you need a shorter one or extra takeup under the arm.
- 6
Pick the correction that matches your failure
For a screw that never reached: fit the supplied spacers first, and only then consider a longer screw of identical diameter and pitch. For a screw that bottomed out: the correction that matches that cause is a shorter screw of the same diameter and pitch, or flat washers of the correct bore under the bracket arm to take up a small surplus. Redo the arithmetic after changing any of it.
- 7
Dry-fit and hand-tighten first
Assemble spacer, bracket and screw at one mounting point and turn it in by hand. It should draw the bracket tight against the spacer and stop with the arm firmly seated and no rocking. Repeat at each point before tightening any of them fully.
⚠ If the bracket is still loose when the screw stops, do not force it. Go back to step 5 — one of the two numbers is wrong.
- 8
Tighten evenly, by hand, and verify against the manual
Snug the screws in a cross pattern with a hand screwdriver until the bracket is firm and does not move. Then check your TV's manual or the manufacturer's support page for your model number to confirm the screw specification you ended up with. If you cannot confirm it, ask the manufacturer's support before hanging the TV.
How much thread grip is actually enough
This is the number nobody gives you, and it is the one that matters, because every spacer and washer you add is subtracted from it. The working formula is simple: engagement equals screw length minus the combined thickness of the bracket arm, spacers and washers in front of it.
Your authoritative reference is your own TV's manual. Take the screw length it specifies for wall mounting, subtract the thickness of the bracket you are actually using, and that is roughly the engagement the manufacturer expects to be there. If your improvised stack produces meaningfully less than that, you have quietly moved outside the specification on all four points at once.
There is no universal number here, so the only reference worth working to is the one above: the screw length your manual specifies, minus the thickness of what you are actually bolting through. If the stack you have improvised leaves clearly less thread in the hole than that, treat it as a reason to stop and ask the manufacturer's support rather than as margin to spend.
Two details raise the stakes. Screw size is not universal — televisions and mounts use metric hardware of different diameters depending on the set and its mounting pattern, so the diameter and pitch given in your own manual is the only figure to work to. And this is a static load that hangs permanently, with no one watching it, often above furniture where people sit. Stacking washers until the screw fits without recomputing engagement is the version of this repair that fails months later.
Washers as spacers: when it's defensible and when it isn't
Washers and spacers are not the same part doing the same job, which is why the answer to "can I just use washers?" depends entirely on which problem you have.
- A spacer restores geometry. It bridges a curve or recess so the bracket arm sits flat and the screw enters the thread square. That is a structural job, and a stack of washers does it badly — small bore, point contact, and a tendency to let the arm cock at an angle under load.
- A washer takes up length and spreads load. Using flat washers under the bracket arm to stop a screw bottoming out is defensible in principle, provided you recalculate engagement afterwards and you are only absorbing a small surplus.
- If the surplus is more than minimal, buy a shorter screw rather than stacking washers: each extra washer tilts the arm and subtracts from the thread engagement you have left.
- Use identical washers at all four points. Mismatched stacks tilt the bracket and put a bending load on the mounting bosses instead of a straight pull.
- Match the bore to the screw. An oversized washer bore lets the screw shift and concentrates the load on a thin ring of metal.
- Be wary of nylon and plastic washers under a permanent hanging load — compressible material can settle over time, and the joint you tightened is not the joint you have a year later.
- Washers on the wall side of the bracket are a different question entirely, governed by your wall fixings, not by the TV. Never treat them as interchangeable with what happens at the TV end.
Mistakes that turn a mounting problem into a repair bill
- Reaching for a drill, impact driver or power screwdriver. These holes are shallow, the thread is soft, and a powered tool will strip a mounting boss before you register the resistance.
- Going up a diameter because the screw feels loose. An M8 screw forced into an M6 thread destroys the thread on the way in, and the hole cannot be recovered.
- Using wood screws, self-tappers or drywall screws in the TV. The mounting holes are machine threads; a self-tapping screw cuts its own path through them.
- Starting a screw at an angle. Cross-threading takes one careless turn and produces exactly the "spins forever, never tightens" symptom people then blame on the screw.
- Reusing the screws that held the pedestal stand. They are frequently a different length or have a shoulder, and they were sized for a different job.
- Adding thread locker, glue or filler to a hole that no longer grips. It does not restore a thread, it contaminates the boss, and it makes any later professional repair harder.
- Hanging the TV on three of four points because one hole is damaged. The load path is designed around all of them; three points also means an off-centre pull on the remaining ones.
- Drilling or re-tapping the television. Beyond the immediate risk to what sits behind the boss, it ends any warranty claim and leaves you with no documented specification for what you built.
Signs the hardware genuinely doesn't fit your TV
The screw won't start by hand in any hole
If a correct-diameter screw will not engage in the first turn anywhere on the TV, the thread size or pitch is wrong. This is a hardware mismatch, not a depth problem — go back to the manual's stated screw specification.
One hole behaves differently from the other three
If the same screw seats properly in three holes and spins in the fourth, the problem is that hole, not the screw. Treat it as damage and contact support rather than compensating with hardware.
The bracket arm partly covers a mounting hole
If the arm's slot does not line up cleanly over the hole, the mount's pattern does not match your TV's, and no spacer will correct alignment.
The supplied spacers still don't clear the curve
If the bracket contacts the rear cover even with every supplied spacer fitted, the mount was not designed for a rear panel of that shape. Check the mount's stated TV compatibility rather than improvising a taller stack.
The mount's rating is below your TV's weight or VESA pattern
Check the mount's rated weight and VESA range against the figures in your TV's manual. A screw problem is sometimes the first symptom of a mount that was never the right one.
You cannot confirm the screw spec anywhere
If you have ended up with hardware you cannot match to the manual or the manufacturer's support page, do not hang the TV on it. Ask support with your exact model number first.
If a thread is already stripped
Stop mounting. Confirm it first: take a screw you know is good, start it by hand in a different hole, and check it grips normally there. If it grips elsewhere and spins in the problem hole, the boss is damaged.
At that point the honest options are narrow. Contact the manufacturer's support with your model number and describe exactly what happened — some designs allow a service repair of the mounting boss, and support is the only party who can tell you whether yours is one of them. A qualified installer or repair centre can also assess whether the set is safe to hang at all. What you should not do is improvise: no oversize taps, no glue, no hanging it on the surviving points and hoping.
The wider point is worth keeping in mind for the next TV. This joint is four small threads carrying a permanent load in a room people live in. The mount, the spacers and the screw length are one system, and the only free variable you get is which screw you buy — not how hard you turn it.
Check these before you buy
- Confirm the screw diameter and pitch from your TV's manual or the manufacturer's support page for your exact model number — never guess it from another set.
- Measure the usable thread depth of your own TV's holes by hand before buying anything longer, so you know the ceiling you are working under.
- Measure the bracket arm thickness at the screw hole; a heavy full-motion mount needs more length than a slim fixed one at the same VESA size.
- Buy screws of the same diameter and pitch, in the length your arithmetic gives you — not the longest available on the shelf.
- If you need flat washers, buy them with the correct bore for the screw, and buy enough identical ones for all four points.
- Check the mount's rated weight and VESA range against the figures printed in your TV's manual before assuming the mount is the right one at all.
Signs it will not fit
- A correct-diameter screw will not start by hand in any mounting hole — the thread size or pitch is wrong.
- The bracket arm partly covers a mounting hole, so the patterns do not actually match.
- The bracket still contacts the rear cover with every supplied spacer fitted, meaning the mount was not designed for that rear panel shape.
- The supplied screws will not reach even with all spacers removed and the arm sitting flat.
- A screw seats correctly in three holes and spins freely in the fourth — that is damage to one boss, not a hardware mismatch.
- The mount's rated weight or VESA range does not cover the figures given in your TV's manual.
A visual match does not guarantee compatibility. Check the exact reference printed on your TV or on the original part before ordering anything.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell if my screw is too short or if it's bottoming out?+
By feel. A screw that is too short spins with almost no resistance for its whole travel and the bracket never tightens — it feels like turning a screw in mid-air. A bottomed-out screw turns in normally, builds resistance, then hits a hard stop and refuses to advance while the bracket is still loose. Test the screw in the TV alone, without the bracket, and the difference is obvious.
Can I use washers as spacers on a TV mount?+
For taking up a small amount of surplus screw length under the bracket arm, flat washers of the correct bore are defensible — use identical ones at all four points and recalculate your thread engagement afterwards. As a substitute for real spacers on a curved or recessed rear panel they work poorly: they give point contact instead of a flat seat and can let the bracket sit at an angle. If the surplus is more than minimal, buy a shorter screw instead.
What are the plastic spacers that came with my TV or mount actually for?+
They restore geometry. Many rear panels are curved, stepped or recessed behind the VESA holes, so a flat bracket arm would touch the plastic cover before the screw reaches the thread. The spacers bridge that gap so the arm seats flat, the screw enters square, and the bracket does not lever against the rear cover. LG's wall mounting bracket manual covers fitting them and re-checking screw length when screws will not tighten fully.
How many threads of grip does a TV mount screw need?+
There is no universal number, and anyone giving you one for your specific TV is guessing. The reference is your own manual: take the screw length it specifies, subtract the thickness of the bracket you are using, and that is roughly the engagement the manufacturer expects.
The screw spins forever and never tightens. Is the screw or the TV at fault?+
Test a known-good screw by hand in a different mounting hole. If it grips normally there and only spins in the problem hole, the thread in that hole is stripped or cross-threaded and the TV is the issue. Do not fill it, re-tap it, or hang the TV on the remaining points — contact the manufacturer's support with your model number, or have a qualified installer assess it.
Is it safe to just buy longer screws from a hardware store?+
Only after you know the usable depth of your TV's holes. Longer is the right direction when the screw genuinely never reaches, but a screw that overshoots the end of a blind threaded boss bottoms out and can strip it. Match the diameter and pitch exactly, measure the depth by hand first, and buy the length your arithmetic gives you rather than the longest one available.
Sources
- Official source: VESA — Mounting Standard (FDMI) overview · 2026-07-20vesa.org
- Official source: VESA — Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI) Overview (PDF) · 2026-07-20www.vesa.org
- Official source: LG — Wall Mounting Bracket install manual (OSW100-US, PDF) · 2026-07-20www.lg.com
Related articles
Still not fixed?
Try the guided diagnosis for your symptom, or browse problems by category.