stripped nut strip...

Deyman · Jun 13, 2005

I was trying to install a Skid Row gas skid and a Draw-tite rear hitch this weekend and am having a heck of a time lining up the bolt holes. I bought a new nut strip for the driver's side since there was none there before. I stripped one of the nuts in the nut strip. Do I re-tap it with a larger diameter and get a new bolt size? Would a self tapper be strong enough? I figured this would take maybe 2hours, but I was wrong. I think my suspension went on easier than this. The fit is extremely tight. The passenger side is done, so I figured the driver's side would be cake. the holes are about 1/4" off. Can I widen the holes in the hitch to bolt it up. I don't really want to do that, but I don't see it working any other way. I was forced to drive it to work with the rear bumper off today. I got a few weird looks. Oh well. It's a 1997 btw. TIA

dmillion · Jun 13, 2005

Go to a junkyard and get another nutstrip. I got mine for $3.

Did you use the right size bolts? Is that how you stripped it? The nutstrips are made for metric size bolts, not SAE. The bolts that came with your hitch might not be the right size.

Kejtar · Jun 13, 2005

Deyman said:
I was trying to install a Skid Row gas skid and a Draw-tite rear hitch this weekend and am having a heck of a time lining up the bolt holes. I bought a new nut strip for the driver's side since there was none there before. I stripped one of the nuts in the nut strip. Do I re-tap it with a larger diameter and get a new bolt size? Would a self tapper be strong enough? I figured this would take maybe 2hours, but I was wrong. I think my suspension went on easier than this. The fit is extremely tight. The passenger side is done, so I figured the driver's side would be cake. the holes are about 1/4" off. Can I widen the holes in the hitch to bolt it up. I don't really want to do that, but I don't see it working any other way. I was forced to drive it to work with the rear bumper off today. I got a few weird looks. Oh well. It's a 1997 btw. TIA

I'd take the nutstrip out, knock out the nut and weld a new one in.

siminsez01 · Jun 13, 2005

my drawtite hitch lined up perfectly....

Deyman · Jun 13, 2005

siminsez01 said:
my drawtite hitch lined up perfectly....

I think if I were just bolting up the hitch it would be fine. The tank skid plate is limiting the movement of the hitch. The hitch is tight against the skid which is making it really hard to line it up. The skid is where it needs to be. There's no room for adjustment there. It seems like I really had to force it into place though. I'll get it, but I had enough frustration for one day. I'll try my luck tonight again. Nothing is ever easy!

Eagle · Jun 14, 2005

Is this for an 01 Cherokee? Which are you trying to put up first, the hitch or the skid? Now I'll have to go look under mine, because the early Cherokees were set up one way and the later (97+) were the opposite. Gotta refresh my memory on which was which.

<EDIT> Okay, it's a 97. Sorry, I missed that. Same as an 01. Opposite from 84 thru 96.

Deyman · Jun 14, 2005

Eagle said:
Is this for an 01 Cherokee? Which are you trying to put up first, the hitch or the skid? Now I'll have to go look under mine, because the early Cherokees were set up one way and the later (97+) were the opposite. Gotta refresh my memory on which was which.

<EDIT> Okay, it's a 97. Sorry, I missed that. Same as an 01. Opposite from 84 thru 96.

Yeah, my first thought was that they sent me the wrong part, but I checked the part numbers to make sure and they were the right ones. Anyway, I solved the stripped nut problem. I bought the right size tap and rethreaded the nut. It was cross threaded. Once the threads were good, the bolt went right in no problem. Dremel is my new best friend. I need to wrap this up before the weekend. I'm going to Paragon on Saturday. WooHoo!

stripped nut strip...

Deyman

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dmillion

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Kejtar

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siminsez01

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Deyman

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Eagle

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Deyman

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