YotaJunky

Hi all,

I broke off one of the bolts for a sway bar shackle. To make a long story short, I had to completely knock out the insert and now I do not have any way of threading a new bolt in to secure the shackle. Here's a pic looking at it from under the truck.

Should I weld the loose end of the shackle? There doesn't seem to be a way to get a nut in there without cutting out part of the chassis.

jimbo74

you broke the bolt inside! doh! i say ditch the swaybar, they arent too important

YotaJunky

Yeah, I got an extractor stuck in the stud and went through about half a dozen bits before I realized that it wasn't going to budge. I finally opted to punch out the whole insert. It took about an hour because there wasn't much swinging room under the truck with a punch and hammer.

YotaJunky

Here's another shot of the shackle from the side. The shiny new bolt is holding it in and there are no threads for the other bolt to go into, because I punched out the threaded insert from the chassis.

Any suggestions? Weld? Tape? Bubblegum....

Adam F

You could weld it, but I would immagine you would melt the rubber bushing from the heat. Unless you could undo the one side, remove the bushing, weld it up, and then somehow get the bushing back in there and bolt on the other side.

Another option would be to make a little rectangular/square piece of steel plate, weld one end over the old bolt hole (with the bracket off the frame and bushing removed) drill a hole at the other end of the plate, and drill and tap a new hole further down in the frame and insert a new bolt. Attached is a pic of what I mean.

Adam F

Actually since you have the hole where the old bolt was cleared out, you could simply tap out a larger size and put a bigger bolt in it! That would be the easiest and best way I would say!

YotaJunky

Thanks for the suggestions Adam. I've thought about re-tapping the hole, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of metal to be strong enough. Maybe I'm wrong. The original insert was about 1/2" deep. I like the idea of welding it with the rubber bushing off and then reinserting it when the shackle has cooled down.

I don't know anything about welding. Should it be tack welded? Would that be strong enough?

Adam F

I don't think tack welding will be strong enough.

It it were me, I would find a self taping bolt and suitable sized drill bit. Drill the hole out nice and round, and then run the self tapper in, problem solved.

I'm not sure how thick the metal is in the frame. Should be good enough for a few threads to catch. For extra strength, you could probably lay down a few tack welds around the bolt or the bracket without melting the bushing.

YotaJunky

Hmmm.... Self tapping bolt sounds like a good idea. I don't think I'll do it with the original hole because it looks way to wide, about 3/8" to 1/2" in diameter, but I'll think about it. Or, I could drill a couple more holes and offset them for the self tapping bolts. Great idea Adam!

mt_goat

Can you drill a hole through the other side of the frame (top side) and put a long bolt clear through the frame? Might have to get a long drill bit.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

You could try a RivNut, they are like a rivet with threads inside. Stick it in the hole, compress the back side and it locks into place.

wrenchmonster

Drill the hole out so you can put a nut inside the frame. In other words, find a drill bit as close as possible to the outside diameter of the new nut. Use a bolt to hold the nut flush with the surface of the frame, weld the nut in, grind down the excess, paint and call it done. I've done this several times. You do need to be an decent welder however.

-Wrench

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Another option that I have used once is to use or make a larger hole close to the hole where you want the nut to be. Then weld the nut to a piece of steel flat bar, then slip the nut and flat bar into the 2nd hole. Insert the bolt into the nut, tighten it down then weld the flat bar to the 2nd hole. I used this once to replace a factory step rail nut inside the frame rail on a Pathfinder. It worked very slick since there was a fairly large existing hole about 2" away from the hole with the broken off nut.

YotaJunky

mt_goat - I'll check for access from above. Are you suggesting that I drill from under the truck and through the top of the chassis so that both holes line up and then push a long carriage bolt from the top so that I have a stud to fasten a nut to? That would work as long as I have access from above to push the bolt through.

YotaJunky

4Crawler - rivNut? I'll look it up on the web for more info. That sounds really interesting, especially with the internal threads. Have you used them before and do you have any idea of the pull-out strength of the rivNut?

The flat bar approach would be ideal if I had a large enough hole near the existing hole. Unfortunately, there is nothing large enough that I could see.

YotaJunky

wrenchmonster - I like your suggestion about welding the nut while holding it steady with the bolt. I'm not a welder and if I go this route, I'll have to find someone with that ability.

Cebby

I haven't seen rivnuts that big + you need a special tool to put them in. What about a wellnut? They may not be strong enough though.

You could always weld a stud on there and just use a nut instead of a bolt.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Search the forum for that, I posted a few links about them a few weeks ago on another thread.

They make them up to 1/2" and, if installed well, have a pretty good holding strength:
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...LC:en&q=RivNut

There are also well nuts, various threaded inserts, some need special tools to install, some don't.

Or, for another idea, make up a couple of plates for under the brackets, drill holes for the bolts to go through and for the missing one, add a stud. Then on that side, weld the end of the plate to the frame. And any place you have nuts inside the frame, be sure to apply anti-sieze any time you put those bolts back in.

mt_goat

Yeah Rogers right, RivNuts are probably your best bet. My Superlift kit used something like that in a few places. They work fine as long as you don't over-torque them (like I did once). The one I over-torqued was in the frame too and I ended up drilling through both sides the frame and putting a long bolt through (I was going through the frame in the skinny direction). If you do end up putting a bolt through the frame don't tighten it up so much that you start pinching (bending) the frame. You would probably only have room for the nut on top and have to put the bolt in from the bottom. It may not be possible without a bodylift.

YotaJunky

RivNuts? After some searching on the web, it seems that a special tool is required for installation. Great idea, but unless it's a cheap fix, I'll have to scrap that idea due to the cost for the installation tool.