Me and my nutstrips had a fight last night...

I intended to install my new ZJ gas tank skid last night. I have a Mopar factory hitch installed and therefore nutstrips on both sides. Thanks to New England winters I managed to snap about 6 out of the 8 bolts holding the hitch on. :banghead:

So, my plan is to source two new nutstrips. The factory installed nutstrips appear (according to the FSM) to be held in place by blind rivets. It should be relatively easy to drill those out, pry out the old nutstrip and install new. Does that sound reasonable?

I read somewhere that you can drill out and retap the nutstrips. Something about tapping to 1/2" NC (I have no idea what NC means). But I'm not very handy with a tap (or drill, or breaker bar apparantly). I'm thinking a good quality tap plus handle will run me close to what the 2 new nutstrips will be (just under $50 shipped from mopardiscountparts.com).

I'm open to any advice or similar experiences...

Sounds reasonable. I would replace the nut strips. The only thing is that you will need to take off the rear bumper.

Remember to use anti-seize this time!

You are on the right track. However, if you are going to drill out the old one's, just leave them in place since they are held pretty well by the rivits. Then again, 6 out of 8 bolts seems like a fair amount to drill and tap out.

If the $50 for new nut strips isn't a deal breaker, I myself would rather go that route. I had to install the driver's side nutstrip on my rig, but I used drywall mollys to hold it in place instead of rivits. That works fine since all you want it is to keep the nut strip in place while you attach the skid. Before you reassemble, be sure to glop on some anti-seize compound on the bolts for easy removal in the future.

I just removed my shocks from my '98. Fortunately, I applied anti-seize when I installed them 8 years ago. Every bolt came off real easy.....

I went the nutstrip route for my hitch as well. I already had the bumper off, and I thought it was a good deal simpler than fishing the bolts/square washers in there.

Ivan said:

You are on the right track. However, if you are going to drill out the old one's, just leave them in place since they are held pretty well by the rivits. Then again, 6 out of 8 bolts seems like a fair amount to drill and tap out.

If the $50 for new nut strips isn't a deal breaker, I myself would rather go that route. I had to install the driver's side nutstrip on my rig, but I used drywall mollys to hold it in place instead of rivits. That works fine since all you want it is to keep the nut strip in place while you attach the skid. Before you reassemble, be sure to glop on some anti-seize compound on the bolts for easy removal in the future.

I just removed my shocks from my '98. Fortunately, I applied anti-seize when I installed them 8 years ago. Every bolt came off real easy.....

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Molly bolts - ah - good idea. I was wondering about that. Drilling and tapping would be so-so on the driver's side but on the passenger side the tail pipe is right smack in the way of a straight shot. I don't want to make it any more time-consuming than it needs to be. New nutstrips should be good as long as the rivets and rust don't give me too much trouble.

hubs97xj said:

I went the nutstrip route for my hitch as well. I already had the bumper off, and I thought it was a good deal simpler than fishing the bolts/square washers in there.

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I also read that the nutstrips make the whole deal stronger. Some other people mentioned tearing of the unibody when they skipped the nutstrips and just dropped the bolts down through (although last night that seemed like a good idea!).

What does 1/2" NC mean? The NC part?

Don't forget to use what you've learned... pre-treat all of the bolts in advance of a job for two weeks. Spray them daily if you want to with PBlaster or an equal but at least 3 or 4 times. I've yet to bust any bolts on my '92 utilizing this approach.

x2 on the neversieze upon re-assembly.

NC is National Coarse thread so the 1/2"NC is 1/2" x 13 threads per inch. NF for National Fine thread. new nutstrips would probably be your best bet hand tapping 1/2" isnt too fun.

Can you keep a secret?

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=983110

joe_peters said:

Can you keep a secret?

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=983110

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HA thanks - yeah I crossed paths with that idea. My "fab" skills are limited to the ridiculous tailpipe hanger I made last night out of aluminum sheet (since my old one came off with the hitch). Plus no welder in sight (althoug I am taking a welding class at night... hmmmm).

I just ordered some up... I'll bite the bullet this time... no major worries. I got the skid plate on the cheap so I can't complain (yet).

duke000088 said:

What does 1/2" NC mean? The NC part?

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1/2" thread diameter, National Coarse. IIRC that is 1/2"x 13 threads per inch. 1/2"NF is National Fine which is 1/2" x 20 threads per inch. These are thread grades which have published standards for the thread form which includes pitch diameter, major and minor diameters, flank angle and more.