I've been fighting with a bolt on my front suspension for the last couple of hours, and finally decided to come in the house, get on the computer, and see if anybody else had any ideas I haven't thought of yet. The bolt in question is one of the two that hold the passenger side anti-sway bar mounting bracket to the frame on my 1983 Nissan truck. The bolt stripped when I tried to remove it. I'm guessing that the last person who screwed the bolt in either cross-threaded it or overtorqued it. At any rate, it's stripped and when I try to unscrew it, it turns freely, but won't unscrew from the hole. I've tried taking the other bolt out of the bracket and putting downwards pressure (the bolt screws up into the frame from underneath) on the bracket with a screwdriver while trying to unscrew the bolt, but no luck there. The steering linkage and front suspension components are all in the same area, so there is no room to get a hacksaw in there and cut the bolt head off, which would be the simplest way to get the bracket off the frame. I thought about using a cold chisel, but there's no room to swing a hammer, either. Anybody out there have any ideas?
Zeke,
If you have an easy-out, try that. They work pretty well and use alot of penetrating oil and tapping to get it in the threads.
If all else fails, center punch the end of the bolt and carefully drill out the bolt. Start with a smaller diameter drill bit. If you have to, you can always drill out, tap new threads and insert a larger bolt.
RapRaP
1940 cHOPPEDcHEVYcOUPE
It wouldn't happen to have a nut plate on the back side that is turning would it?
I have got a couple that were stripped like that out by forcing back on the bolt to put tension against it and then unscrewing it.
Put something behind the head to pry it and then see if you can unscrew it.
Zeke,
Is there room to get a die grinder with a cut off wheel in there or even just a grinding burr? Any holes or slots in the frame to get to the back side when you put it back together?
Bruce
They make a thing called a Nut Splitter. It is pricey but basically cuts the nut. Then the bolt can fall out. I have used "OTHER TOOLS" to cut the nut in half. Cut it long ways so you can see half the bolt after you cut the nut.
Bruce has a good idea with the cut-off wheel. Get a good brand like Dremel... not the ones from the Dollar Store. Those fly apart on the first cut.
Be sure to wear safety glasses, trust me on this one.