Sway bar bolt...nut spinning freely in side frame

Looks like I got a little torque heavy on a front sway bar bolt and cracked loose the nut on the inside of the frame. Can't pull it out, can't tighten it.

Here's my proposed fix....cut off the head of the bolt and push the stud/nut up inside the frame. I'm thinking I can drill out the hole to accomidate a grade eight bolt that I can fish down though the hole. There is a hole about the size of a quarter on the side of the frame I can fish the bolt into and then drop it down into the now drilled out sway bar bracket hole. I'll just spin a nut onto it from the bottom and hope it will snug up ok. What do you guys think? That's the best fix I can seem to come up with for now.

If you take off your front bumper, there is a wide enough opening you should be able to fit a wrench through. No need to drill out the frame.

those holes are a tease...
it looks as though you can get a wrench in there and its just so damn tricky..
probably possible, just so annoying to try to do...
id say try it though, wouldnt hurt

12GaugeXJ said:

If you take off your front bumper, there is a wide enough opening you should be able to fit a wrench through. No need to drill out the frame.

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Pain in the rear to get the front bumper off? I just looked it over and it's not real obvious to me where to start. Can I get the bumper off complete with the end caps?

XJINGA said:

Pain in the rear to get the front bumper off? I just looked it over and it's not real obvious to me where to start. Can I get the bumper off complete with the end caps?

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yes.

bumper brackets are shaped like a triangle and have 3 bolts holding them on to the frame. if you cant see the frame under the bumper, you will need to pull the splash guard rubber stuff off first. the bumper will come off and go on all together. if you have fog lights on the bumper, unplug them.

-Tim

edit: where in GA are you?

jeepnuts311 said:

yes.

bumper brackets are shaped like a triangle and have 3 bolts holding them on to the frame. if you cant see the frame under the bumper, you will need to pull the splash guard rubber stuff off first. the bumper will come off and go on all together. if you have fog lights on the bumper, unplug them.

-Tim

edit: where in GA are you?

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Cool...thanks for the info. I'm in Kennesaw.

XJINGA said:

Cool...thanks for the info. I'm in Kennesaw.

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no prob, let us know if you still havin trouble. you might be able to tack weld the nut back to the frame rail.

im in carrollton/douglasville/gwinnett. im always all over GA. we should go wheelin or wrench on our jeeps sometime

-Tim