well i managed to mess up the threads in one spot on the nut thats welded to the other side of the frame, to mount my transmission crossmember. i can't really think of any way to change the nut short of cutting a hole in my floor and welding in a new nut. the threads are only gone in maybe a 1/4 inch spot where i went a little wide with the drill i was using to drill out a broken bolt.

will a helicoil work ok inside a nut? i'm guessing i do NOT want to just try and thread a new bolt in there with the 1/4 inch of thread missing?

 

you can put a heli coil anywhere you like, it isn't going to know if it's in a nut or an engine block.

 

yes it will work. another option is to retap the damaged hole to a different thread.

i had to do this recently to a buddies 92. he 3 stripped holes . i re-tapped all 4 to 7/16 - 14. worked great.

 

good because i have to have my car ready to go by 6 pm tomorrow lol.

 

well that didnt happen, i've had a lot on my plate lately and just today got the first bolt out. now onto the second one, i drill the hole, put in my extractor, which i guess was too small, and promptly broke off the extractor flush with the bolt.

i drilled a small hole next to it, about 1/8th or 9/64ths, to try and get a punch dug into the side of the extractor and back it out, but the angle i have to hit it at i'm hitting it more up than clockwise.

the steel on the extractor is too hard to drill through, my punch will barely dent it, and it smashed my chisel up. is my only option to take my time drilling small holes all the way around it to expose enough i can grab it with some pliers and get it out? is there any sort of dremel attachment i could get to more easily grind down the bolt? would have to be pretty narrow and long, i havent been able to find anything like that.

 

Broken extractors really suck. I've had luck in the past hitting them with a hardened punch and a big hammer. If you can get a good hit on it, it will shatter. Being under the car will make getting a good hit tough. An air hammer would come in handy if you have access to one.

I had similiar problems with my crossmember bolts. I eventually cut a couple of holes in the side of the frame rail, ground off what remained of the built-in nut, installed a new nut and tack welded it in. Then welded the access holes back up.

 

I drilled mine out & used 1/2" wheel studs dropped in from the top.

 

Dont have to worry about it braking then i guess

 

Overkill is my middle name

Actually they were readily available (Ford truck, I beleive) & worked out perfect.

 

I'm surprised the nut is welded in well enough to even break off the extractor. I punched them out of the '86 donor car frame thinking I'd use them in the '82, which didn't have the back two holes needed for the longer TH700/T5 transmissions.

I ended up using hardware store nuts with fender shims for washers, slid into the frame from the frame section drain holes (which I opened up).

 

This happened to me, but the bolt broke in the nut. I drilled it ALL out to a bigger size removing the threads and all. I then put a grade 8 bolt and washer up inside the frame rail from the oval opening and fished it down 9 inches with those magnet arm things. After that the bolt fell through the hole. I then inserted an open end wrench into the opening to hold the bolt while i put the xmember back up and used a Nut on the bottom of the bolt.