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Cross Member bolt removal...

B

btfury

NAXJA Forum User
Location
AR
I tried searching but didn't come up with anything... Anyway, as I was attempting to remove one of the cross member bolts today I snapped the bolt, meaning that it's stuck up in there and I have no idea how to get it out... What do I need to do?
 
I'm guessing your talking about the trans cross member. The best I can come up with is you will have to cut a hole in the side of the rail to get at the nut.
 
Well I snapped the stud and the bolt on the passenger side, to the point where I can't get a hold of them with vice grips or anything. So now I'm screwed... I guess I have to get it towed to the shop and have them deal with it.

I don't even know if it will be alright being towed though, because the one side of the crossmember hangs down a good bit when its not supported by the floor jack...
 
If the internal nut doesn't spin try to drill & E-Z out it. Be liberal with PB blaster when you try it. It worked for me one time only. otherwise you have to go in from the top of the frame rail. Try an advanced search, there's lots of experience on this problem. Just for towing jack up the crossmember against the frame rail drill a couple of holes & use some self tapping bolts. Remember, just for towing!!
 
btfury said:
Well I snapped the stud and the bolt on the passenger side, to the point where I can't get a hold of them with vice grips or anything. So now I'm screwed... I guess I have to get it towed to the shop and have them deal with it.

I don't even know if it will be alright being towed though, because the one side of the crossmember hangs down a good bit when its not supported by the floor jack...
Click to expand...

JeepFreak21 said:
Just use some PB Blaster, maybe some heat, and an Easy Out!
Click to expand...

:dunno:
Billy
 
Sorry, I'm not familiar with an Easy Out... I don't mean to sound naive here or anything but I haven't done a lot of drilling or anything, so don't really know where to begin.
 
Again sorry for the noob comment here...but basically all I have to do (since I haven't busted the nutserts loose in the frame yet) is get an Easy Out, drill it in to what's left of the bolt and stud, and then put the drill in reverse and hope that they come out?

What size easy out do I need to get?
 
btfury said:
Again sorry for the noob comment here...but basically all I have to do (since I haven't busted the nutserts loose in the frame yet) is get an Easy Out, drill it in to what's left of the bolt and stud, and then put the drill in reverse and hope that they come out?

What size easy out do I need to get?
Click to expand...

You got it man! The last question, I can't answer though. Sorry.
Billy
 
I've welded a nut to the broken stud before, the heat from the welding seems to help with the removal as well. EZ-Outs are OK, but often break about halfway thru the removal process, leaving you with a hardened piece of EZ-Out to try and drill through.

I've drilled all the way through the broken in stepped sizes, then tapped the weld nut a size larger in SAE instead of metric.

Or, you can just chop hole in you unirail and replace the nut, at which point you might as well replace both of them with new SAE nuts welded to a plate, then to the unirail.
 
so if I end up having to tap the weld nut for a larger size, what size tap and bolts do I need to get?
 
Well I've been trying to get those darn bolts out all day... and no luck.

So, now my question is can I get it towed to the shop with only two bolts holding up the cross member? The stud and bolt of one side are the only things holding it up, as the passenger side stud and bolt are broken off. I've got a tie down strap supporting the cross member on the other side, but even with it there as soon as I let the floor jack (that is currently supporting the cross member) down, the passenger side hangs down about an inch...

Now it shouldn't drop any further with the strap under there, but is it ok to get it towed like that? The shop is a ten minute drive from my house... but I can't imagine it would be ok to drive it there...
 
Not sure a shop would do a whole lot better than what you could do. I had my nutsert come loose. I just drilled a 1.5in whole through the floor into the unibody. Measure first so you go right between the rails. Then put a new nut/bolt or whatever in its place and weld. You can have the nut welded later at a friends shop a lot cheaper than having a shop to it all.
 
XJEEPER said:
I've welded a nut to the broken stud before, the heat from the welding seems to help with the removal as well. EZ-Outs are OK, but often break about halfway thru the removal process, leaving you with a hardened piece of EZ-Out to try and drill through.
Click to expand...

X2
 
So if I were to drill through the stud and bolt, and then tap for a new bolt, would I have to weld a new nut in there anyway? Or, would I be drilling a bigger hole and tapping through the weld nut already in there?
 
I think most people just drill the old nut if it hasn't broken loose. Start small and finish up with (IIRC) a 7/16" drill/tap kit. You should then be able to use 7/16" Grade 8 hardware to bolt your crossmember back in. I don't know for sure what size that final drill is, but if you buy a 7/16" tap it will tell you what size drill to use both on the package and on the bit itself.

I haven't done this myself yet, but I think I stripped out a hole when I put in my TC drop kit. When I remove the drop kit I'll be replacing my hardware regardless...
 
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