I guess this is the best place to post this.

Scenario: My x-member mounting on one side is crap. Im swapping over to a T56, but not sure how im gonna tackle the mounting.

I hear the expression, when swapping over to different trans, "just move the x-member back/forth x inches, and drill new holes".

Well isnt the x-member mounting location, only a certain thickness of metal? It looks like the bolt just threads into the existing metal. But that doesnt seem very secure. Unless theres thread in there i dont know about.

Anyway, as you can see from the pix, there is some rust issues goin on here, and im down to one bolt/screw/thingy on one side. Luckily, its the side of the tranny that torques UP, so the bolt only has to support the weight of the tranny, not the force it generates.

But how do i fix it? Do i just drill holes in a clean spot and put a screw in, or is there a special thread thats in there?

I was originnally thinking of taking the proper bolts, putting a washer on them, and then feeding them through the INSIDE of the frame rail, so the thread is the part thats exposed below. But that seems really really hard. So what would you guys suggest?

 

ONLINE: Hmm...that looks pretty cruddy there man. Inside the chassis rails where the x-member bolts, there are threaded inserts welded on the inside of those boxed areas. They might even just be blind nuts... hard to tell without seeing the actual pieces.

In any case, your pictures are pretty blurry so its kind of hard to see...but do you have broke bolts? My course of action would be as follows.

First I would wire wheel everything as good as you can. See exactly what you are working with rust wise. Then, ide work on clearing the threaded holes. The ones that dont have broken bolts, I would use a thread chaser on to clean them up. The ones with broken bolts, if there is one, I would drill and remove the broken piece. You are somewhat in luck here, because you can either screw the broken piece in or out. Since there is nothing behind it...you can scew it in until it falls off inside the chassis.

Now...if the holes are just plain old screwed up you have more work ahead of ya. Some solutions that come to mind... Drill the holes slightly bigger and re-tap to the next biggest size. Whether it be metric or standard. Just make it big enough to get rid of all the rust and screwed up threads.

You could fish bolts in there and drop them down through the holes... however you'd need to punch the holes out so they are big enough, and you'd need a washer behind the bolt head, and you would have a heck of a time holding the bolts in the holes while you get the x-member in place and tighten it.

So...ide try to clean up with you have. If you need to take drastic measure, just post up and we'll help ya out.

J.

 

Ghetto;

The nut/rivot thing you see in there, is a "flush mount" screw type thing, that will require a torx bit to remove.

There is a broken nut in there, so ill prolly use that reverse thread easy out thing.

Finally, i has always wondered if there was threads in there in a sleeve, and u answered YES. So if i drill big enough to remove the threads,and rethread, will that leave enough material to hold?

Sorry about the blurry, i took them blindly, and it just didnt focus i guess.

Has any one tried the "fish and drop" bolts through the chassis?? As long as the threads dropped through id be ok, its just the first, "feed it through" part that would suck.

What would i use to do it? Coat hanger?

 

even if you were going to try and drop a nut in there... wow that didnt sound right... and got the bolt started, you would not be able to hold the nut and tighten it completely, it would get to a point and start to spin, and then after time, you would never be able to get it back apart.

 

lol without a cutting tool and maybe a hammer that is

 

Didnt think about the "off part".... But i could always just cut and replace. Im doing it now anyway .

 

See "My T56 Swap Thread" thread, in trans/ drivetrain section to follow this.....

 

I had an issue on my Jeep Cherokee (unibody) with the crossmember bolts. I broke one off in there. I ended up just knocking the welded threaded slug off its welds. Then I cut a slot in my unibody. Yes...you read that correctly. Didnt hurt anything. The slot was JUST big enough to sneak a nut that I had taped into an open end wrench through. That allowed me to hold it to tighten it. Ive removed it a few times as well, and it was cake. I just painted the crap out fo the slot that I cut. No issues there. I doubt youd have any either. Just amek your slot as small as possible on the sides. There are already holes in it...so strength wont diminish enough to worry.

J.