Guys, got what seems to be turning into a nightmare problem. Noticed the passenger seat in my ute was loose, and found some heavy handed munter has been at it and one of the front mounting bolts had the head sheared off and the rest of the bolt still in the hole. Easy out didn't work, it was seized in there nicely. So ended up drilling it out.
Managed to get what looked like enough thread going with a tap, found a temporary bolt just to test it. As I'm gingerly winding it in, I feel something let go. Now the bolt is loose and I can't pull it out because it's obviously caught inside whatever has broken away.
WTF do I do about this? Seems quite a problem and need to get it sorted for a wof.
Grind it flush to the floor. Re-drill another hole in the seat rail a bit further back then drill through the floor and bolt and nut with a decent washer underneath, will do the trick make sure the bolt is "Just" long enough to go through the nut.
gunhand,
Sep 4, 6:00am
Was there a nut welded in the bottom of the hole? They are usually held by four spots of weld, and yes they do break off and cause problems. Solution to this problem, if ya can not see the nut cut a hole till ya can. If no nut, buggered if I know.
franc123,
Sep 4, 6:02am
If the captive nut thread is still salvageable about the only thing that can be done now is to get an engineer or a garage to weld the nut in there. If there's no access underneath I would try 4 spots of MIG around the outside and then grind the welds back flush.
gpg58,
Sep 4, 6:05am
I assume the nut has broken its weld (and pick photo is before bolt got stuck). Got an arc welder? perhaps clean up area then try to get a spot weld clear of thread in 2 or 3 spots while pulling bolt up to get thru to nut with weld.(give thread a crc spray first and cover thread with something to protect, and crc again after weld, when trying again to undo)
Actually i guess it may even be possible to drill thru both, and the rivet it back up, if real handy with tools.
2sheddies,
Sep 4, 6:15am
I figure there must have been a nut there which has now given way. It's the angled front mount with no access underneath sadly, so drilling through isn't an option as it looks like I'd end up inside the chassis rail. And what's the go with regard to a wof after having a repair like this done as it's a fairly important safety issue I'd have thought.
2sheddies,
Sep 4, 6:19am
Yeah photo is before stuck bolt issue reared its head. Stupid me, I wasn't even using an automotive type bolt haha. Its a galvanised thing probably more suited to building than cars, but it's all I had with a thread to match the tap, just so I could see what would happen. Unfortunately I sold both my mig and arc welders. Have regretted it ever since.
gunhand,
Sep 4, 6:21am
You could just weld a new nut flush with the floor. Or cut the section out and re weld the nut or a new one to the underside and then weld the cut out back in. If done properly and cleaned up under sealed etc etc no one will know.
serf407,
Sep 4, 6:48am
Probably a few approaches threaded insert Nordlock washers Getting a piece of round bar and putting a thread in it, and welding the round bar to the floor.
shakespeare6,
Sep 4, 6:53am
Been there with that as above - I pulled the mat up got the welder in there and welded around the edge into the captive nut Then put a tap through. 10 minute job
sr2,
Sep 4, 7:00am
+1. My approach would be to drill/plug weld and then either tap oversize or use a threaded insert.
Strobo you might well be a goddamn genius. That's what I might try as a first shot and there's plenty of other really helpful suggestions to help out aswell, so now I don't feel like it's quite as big of a drama as I first thought. Never come across toys kind of issue ever before.
Cheers heaps guys, awesome helpful suggestions as usual. Will report back once it's fixed.
gpg58,
Sep 4, 10:33am
Enjoy trying to find the annoying rattle later on, if you manage to get bolt out and nut drops, or you cut bolt. Suggest spray foam or silicon it just before it drops so hopefully it sticks somewhere. I would never go with dynabolt idea myself, stainless is weak, and nut will drop out of reach, so you be only tightening against sheet metal, bad idea. If nut stayed there and simply had a stuffed thread, and therefore could be drilled out to a suitable size. nah, do it properly, as you said above, it is a safety issue.
phalanax,
Sep 4, 4:29pm
Helicoil maybe. insert the coil maybe use some threadlock on the outer of the coil ,make sure the coil goes thru longer than the nut . let it set ensuring the inside thread of the coil is clean. then using a longer bolt . grind a taper to the end of the bolt you are inserting and hope the bolt pulls up the nut. my 10 cents. PS. you need to make sure the taper you have ground does not cause the bolt to cross thread in the coil. do this by testing your bolt on an appropriate threaded nut for the coil before you insert it.
2sheddies,
Sep 4, 8:05pm
Shit I dunno guys, think I just better take it somewhere and get it fixed properly. Some of the suggestions sound a bit beyond my engineering capabilities. End of the day, somebody I love very dearly often sits in that seat, so it's got to be safe. Because the nut has disappeared completely, all I'm left with now is a gaping hole in flimsy sheet metal, with a galvanised bolt from Bunnings jammed through it.
kazbanz,
Sep 4, 8:36pm
2 sheddies- ok so it looks like you have a seat support rail with a nut welded to it. then under that is the floor of the truck. Seems to me the obvious answer is to take a look under the truck and see if theres anything directly below the hole in the rail. If not -drill through the floor and run a bolt up from below. Use a solid thick "penny" washer and tighten the seat using the nut instead of the bolt head. Lots of no acidic silicone around the head of the bolt. If you need to then drill the hole in the rail out an extra 4mm and put a sleeve in down to the floor. All of that you can do with home workshop tools.
2sheddies,
Sep 4, 8:47pm
You're correct there Kaz. The only problem is that the front seat mount is angled so I wouldn't be able to drill through the floor. Second problem is that directly underneath is the solid chassis rail of the ute with no access inside, so I couldn't install the bolt. They're not making it easy thats for sure. Pity it's not one of the rear bolts as then your suggestion would work.
atom.ant,
Sep 4, 9:49pm
BTW the seat belt bolts use a different thread.Can't remember what type. I found this out when I went to the bolt shop and they sold me the wrong one. When I went back he asked me what it was for and went straight to the box.
nothing special M10 x 1.25 - metric fine. (engineers bolt) your average Bunnings galv hardware bolts are metric course which will be M10 x 1.5
shakespeare6,
Sep 4, 10:37pm
biggest size M6? be a waste of time for this job
2sheddies,
Sep 4, 10:51pm
Yeah saw that, bugger it. Handy tool nonetheless, be worth having. Do you know if bigger ones are available? The hole I have currently is accepting an M12 bolt. or was at least.
2sheddies,
Sep 4, 11:01pm
Looks like larger sizes are available, but unsure who would sell or supply these, and the gun to insert. Going to do some investigation after lunch.
sr2,
Sep 4, 11:17pm
As much as I'm a fan of riv-nuts they are not at all suitable for seat mounts.
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