Frame Rail Bolt Problem

I was removing the bolts that attach the transmission skid plate to my Jeep Wrangler and one of the bolts would merely spin and not come out. I realized that the nutsert(rivet nut, rivnut) it was attached to was also spinning. There was no way to get this bolt and nutsert out by normal means at this point.

The way a nutsert stays in place is by expanding when the bolt in it is tightened. This one was damaged and was not going to tighten or loosen. There was some play in the area that is normally wedged in the frame rail hole. The only way to get it out was to cut it out.


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There was enough slack to get a reciprocating saw blade in there so I began cutting the bolt off.

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These suckers take a while to cut through so be patient.

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The reciprocating saw did some minor damage to the frame rail surface.

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It is best not to leave bare metal to mother nature’s elements so I did a little sanding and put on a bit of paint to clean it up.

Once I finished cleaning it up I replaced the nutsert and bolted it right back up.


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