I have ran into a new problem. I replaced the trans oil pan gasket,filter, and trans mount. I removed the crossmember to do it so when I was putting it back on it seemed like neither of the 2 bolts on the drivers side that bolt the crossmember to the subframe would get tight. WHen I let the jack down the bolts just fell out. I dont see how but they are obviously stripped. Any suggestions? I considered just getting a bigger bolt and trying it.

 

Inside that frame rail are a pair of nuts that are welded in at the factory. Its possible they rusted over the years and the welds broke. If you look up into the holes can you see them? I had that happen with mine. I had to cut a hole in my floors and weld new nuts in place. Not impossible, just a lot of work.

Its also possible the threads on the nuts are what is stripped, not the bolts.


Edit: Actually, I welded bolts in, not nuts. I figured it would be easier to get nuts on protruding bolts while holding up the crossmember than trying to thread a bolt into a nut through 2 holes.

 

That is very helpful and it makes a lot of sense. I just couldn imagine how both could have gotten stripped. Its dont sound easy but I think I can handle it. Thanks.

 

This is extremely common. Those nuts in the frame rails are soft like cheese.
You can drill them up larger and tap it out. I just passed a bolt in from the top (holes in the frame rail, using a magnet...) and used a nut to hold the cross member in place.

 

Sonix - How did you hold the bolt heads to tighten the nuts? That was the first thing I thought of doing with mine but couldnt figure out how to hold them. Thats why I cut into the floorboards and welded bolts in from the top. Then used nuts to attach the crossmember.

 

I used allen head bolts. I just snuck an allen key in there to hold it still. Once you get it a tiny bit snug, the bolt head grabs the old "nut" in there and holds still. You can then tighten your nut down until it screams without it spinning. The tranny will be holding the bolts downwards, which keeps it from spinning.

I am going to cut holes there and weld in 1/4" plates which are drilled and tapped. I've made up the plates, I just need time to weld them in...

 

I didn't think of using allen heads. I usually try to stay away from them and Torx as I have all kinds of problems with them as they get older and rusty. When you get around to welding those plates in, post up some pics, I'd like to see that.

 

I will tell you what I did. My floors are rusty and I am soon going to replace my drivers side so I just cut back the metal where the frame rail is and bought some longer bolts and nuts. I put a boxed end on one side and rachet on the other, and tighened it until it was tight. Before I put in the new floors I am going to weld the nuts down so I wont have to deal with this problem again.

 

What size bolts fit these nuts? Both mine on the driver side are stripped, and neither will tighten up. Just pop when they try to tighten up. I want to try and re tap them to a size larger.

 

stock is 10mm 1.5 IIRC

 

Tapping won't accomplish anything. It's just a bunch of chinesium; about half the time the reason it's "stripped" in the first place, isn't because it's "stripped"; it's because it SPLIT IN HALF. Can't "tap" that, now can you?

Best fix really, is to peel the carpet back on the inside, hole-saw about a 1¼" hole above them, take that stoooopid one-wayer s*** out of there and throw it where it belongs, set a REAL nut made out of STEEL down in there, and put a plastic hole plug or something back to fill the hole.