Combatcm said:
Yeah thats some good advice my hitch didnt come with a nutstrip on the drivers side.
I'm going to use the hitch for recovery
How easy are the strips to get to? Do you just remove the bumper and there is an open channel on either side?
Yes, just take the bumper off, and pull the strips out from the end. There's enough headroom that you probably won't have a problem with the stubs of sheared off bolts if they're fairly short.
Once it's out you can decide either to replace it or fix it. If you're a cheapskate, you can put heat to the offending nuts and probably manage to get the sheared off stub out, and then either retap or chase the threads of all the nuts. If you have spare bolts, you can take a Dremel tool and grind cutting grooves in one to make a chaser for threads that aren't too bad. But make sure the threads are good and clean before reinstalling, because it's a little tricky sometimes to line up the bolts during installation, especiallyt if the strip is a little distorted from previous use, and you must be able to distinguish between a crossed thread and one that's just a little stiff.
When you reinstall, don't tighten any of the bolts until all are in, so that you have a little wiggle room for realigning the strip as you go. It can take some trial and error to get all the bolts into a strip that's been bent. If you're not patient, treat yourself to a new strip.
I have transferred a Mopar hitch from my 87 to my 95 to my 99, in each case using the same strips that came from the junkyard along with the hitch, but this is probably overdoing it.
Both of my last two vehicles had U-haul hitches when I got them. They usually use carriage bolts with a square washer, dropped down from inside the rail. It may be reasonably strong that way, but if you ever have to remove the hitch, you will regret it once for every bolt! The second U-haul hitch was installed with a mixture of different bolts, and on the passenger side they managed to install them either through or around the factory nut strip, ruining it. To access the deepest ones, they cut into the side of the frame with a chisel! Not that I would want to badmouth U-haul....:flame: ...but I think you should do it yourself and get it right the first time. Clean nut strips, new bolts, anti-seize: the care will pay off.
