northfacer581

the front left bolt that holds down my drivers seat down (theres 4, one on each corner) is stripped, due to my forcing. it keeps spinning around and i cant get it out. i keep rocking back everytime i drive and its very annoying, and i dont feel safe while driving. i looked up under there to see if i could get to the back of the bolt, but i cant (or at least i dont think i can). what should i do? this is very very annoying, and i just hate almost driving now. ANY help would be great. thanks

jimbo74

get a prybar keep pressure in between it and the seat and try to back it out.... i dont know about your truck, but in mine, there is an actual nut on the underside of the body thats is packed to a plate/washer..... it is possible to snap it loose, and even grind it away, and then jsut replace it with a new bolt, big washer, and nut

northfacer581

well good and bad news. got the bolt out and figured out how exactly it was setup. the nut was attached to the body, but in my case the nut got loose, and just kept spinning. now i think im just going to drill another hole into the seat bracket and screw it into the floor. hopefully this will work. if not, i could try to see how many thousands the dealership would charge me to fix this.

Bluedog

Try and use a riv-nut. It's a rivit type inset that is threaded. I used then to hold down a box I made for the bed of my Tundra. I don't know if they make them big enough for the seat bolts, but it's worth a shot.

http://www.bollhoff-rivnut.com/id2.htm

There are many different types. Most hardware stores should have the kits.

B.

northfacer581

wow great product. hopefully they have them big enough. i mean this is a pretty large hole. now that the riv-nut has me thinking, i should be able to come up with something. really i just need something like the rivnut that is wide enough to fill that hole to keep a little bit of pressure so the seat doesnt rock back.

jimbo74

as i said before, jsut get a longer bolt, and a nut with a huge washer...... the body floor itself is not thick enough to try and rethead it, nor will is sustain the stresses placed on it, and if not correctly fixed this time around, will need more expensive repairs later

ranma21

hmm, not a fun problem at all. I do not think it is a good idea to just screw a new bolt into the floor, it is not thick and strong enough to hold it. You can try and retread it o a bigger thread and match with a bigger bolt. You can get the retreading tool at SEARS and match the bolt at any hardware store. Good luck

Flamedx4

No need to try to repair the threads or find a big rivnut. Just get a new bolt, a new nut, and a very large washer and bolt the seat down right through the old hole. Simple, fast, and strong.

FS

so how did you end up fixing the bolt? Mine is the same and I don't want to take the bolt off if I can't put anything else back in.

northfacer581

i got a new bolt, drilled a hole, and put it right through the body. i could take pics if you need, but i basically did what flamedx4 said.

arjan

I had the same thing happen long time ago, my nut came out also. I took a good bolt, big washer on it, then fed the bol through from the bottom up. It took some patience but it worked. I have the nut on top now, haven't had any problems since. (2 yrs)

stevrock

I was wondering why nobody suggested what Phil said earlier.....

jimbo74

thats how it is stock, its a big washer with a nut tack welded to the sheetmetal... that's it...

CoedNaked

That is exactly what happened to me.

How you I got it out was I put the air drill on the bolt and put on in full reverse and at the same time pry the bolt head while the air drill spins the head with a pry bar. That is the only way I could get it out.

To fix it I just drilled the (now cross) threads out with a drill and then fed a new bolt thorugh, and a big washer & nut on the underside - good as new.

Note to self: be careful when putting bolts back that hold the seat in.

northfacer581

its nice to sit down now and not rock around. i think i might flip the bolt around so the nut is on top...but as it is now the nut is underneath, like the other 3 holding it down. i was kind of upset to find out how weak the body was...it took all of about 10 seconds to drill through...o well.

FS

could you take a pic please?

northfacer581

here ya go...

arjan

When you lift the carpet, there is a hole in the bump through which you can reach the back of the hole where the nut let go. That's the way I did it. I worked the bold from the bottom up, and have the nut on top. That way you don't have to got throught the bottom of the vehicle.

Fink

I would go to Lowe's and use Grade 8 hardware...just for safety and piece of mind sake. Thats what I did when mine got stripped...I just used a tap/die set and rethreaded the whole and put a new bolt that I threaded myself to match the new threads on the hole and did it that way...took about 10 minutes and I'm all set with original hardware pretty much.

Fink