crossmember nutsert removal ideas please

working on the finishing touches of an engine swap in my 92. I broke one of the bolts that hold the tranny crossmember up. no problem,I will just cut a hole in the floor board and put a socket on it like I did for the one that broke the weld and the bolt and nut were both spinning,right? wrong!! when I got to where i could get the socket on there,i saw there wasn't a nut to put a socket on. rather there was a tab welded to the "frame". how can I get this bolt out? any way to do it without drilling? I really don't have enough of a hole in the floor to hit it with a chisel and hammer,and i don't want to open a bigger hole. thanks for any ideas!! Ben

I'd say drill it from the bottom and re-tap. It's not what you want to hear but that's my best suggestion.

Slo-Sho said:

I'd say drill it from the bottom and re-tap. It's not what you want to hear but that's my best suggestion.

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x2.
you have to drill it out and re-tap the hole.

well,i kind of suspected drilling was going to be the only way,but thought i would ask on here because most people on here are more experienced with this kind of thing than i am. thanks!!

your frustration level with these sort of projects is usually directly related to the tools you have.

go buy some good bits and it will take you all of 5 minutes.

crappy $20 drill bit sets are worthless. it took me a long time to realize that it's your tools that make work easy.

87manche said:

your frustration level with these sort of projects is usually directly related to the tools you have.

go buy some good bits and it will take you all of 5 minutes.

crappy $20 drill bit sets are worthless. it took me a long time to realize that it's your tools that make work easy.

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Amen brutha.

Words to live by.


Hale

The way I handled it, was the way I handle most of the "nutserts" that break. I do away with them.

I cut a small rectangle in the outside of the "frame rail". Just big enough to sneak an open end wrench with a new nut taped to it in.

Then, I took a punch and beat the broken part of the bolt out. That made drilling the hole out easier.

After that, its cake. Just tape a nut into the wrench and slide it over the hole. Get your bolt started, and crank it down. To take it back apart, I just use the wrench, and when the bolt is out, I get the nut out with a magnet.

Justin

My crossmember was held on by 3 bolts and 1 stud/nut. One of the bolts broke when we removed the crossmember to do the trans mount.

I was told I could try an easy-out...dunno! Seems to be fine with 3 mounting points for the time being

i am currently in the same boat - i broke two of the nutserts on my tcase x member doing my long arms and am going to cut and reweld a new nut but for now i tacked the cross member on one of the bolt holes and fixed the other side - ghetto for now but the jeep only has one trip to MS and then its a trail only rig - so 3 bolts and a solid tack bead should be ok till i get er fixed

mine broke very easily and the bolts must have been in there for 20k since i put a new t case in , a 231 with 30k on it so be careful with old rusted bolts - i also need to helicoil my right front caliper bolt with stripped when i was putting in some alloy usa outers

its all part of the jeep learning process

Would an easy out work?

I never used an easy out before but it sounds interesting.

would an electric or air drill work better? I have access to both.

Blaine B. said:

Would an easy out work?

I never used an easy out before but it sounds interesting.

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Easy outs should be illegal, they break and the thought of drilling out that hardened steel makes me shudder. I used an easy out to try to remove a top bumper bolt in the front of a yj we had, it broke, it took 2 hours to drill that easyout out and that was while standing up and drilling down and sitting on a stool, gave the 1/2" milwalkee a good workout. I think if I broke one that required drilling out from underneath I'd sell the jeep first...

I've had great luck with driling out busted bolts and finishing the job with an easy out.

Just need to use something like PB blaster, patience, and know the torque limits of the easy out, or get easy outs that are forged and not cast.

I had to drill out the remains of a busted engine mount bolt out of my engine block last year, with the engine still in the jeep. It was my nissan SD-22 diesel transplant, not the 4. I used a wooden 4x4 block as a back up lever to force the drill ( I also used a 90 degree arbor attachment on the drill due to the tight spacing) into the bolt remains. Basically made a drill press rig out the jeep frame and the 4x4 block of wood with 90 degree arbor attachment on the drill. Drilled the hole in the bolt in about 2 minutes and easy outed the threaded remains in 10 seconds. Used a tap to clean the old engine block threads and I was done.

Took me a month to decide how to do it, get the 90 degree drill attachment,get up the guts to try it, and only 5 minutes :doh: to actually do the job. I was expecting and fearing all kinds of problems, like drilling a hole in the block it self.

RichP said:

Easy outs should be illegal, they break and the thought of drilling out that hardened steel makes me shudder. I used an easy out to try to remove a top bumper bolt in the front of a yj we had, it broke, it took 2 hours to drill that easyout out and that was while standing up and drilling down and sitting on a stool, gave the 1/2" milwalkee a good workout. I think if I broke one that required drilling out from underneath I'd sell the jeep first...

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