OEM Roof rack nutserts: removal and dimensions

[e9999]

OK, still in the middle of trying to deal with the nutserts and the frozen screws...

A bit of info for those of you who may be tackling the task at some point:


Roof hole sizes on my '97: 0.281"


Nutsert dimensions:

Body diameter: 0.283" (may have expanded a bit during crimping?)
Body protrusion inside cab: about 0.20"

Outside lip diameter: 0375"
Inner lip diameter: 0.340"
Inner lip thickness: 0.040"

Removal of frozen or spinning nutserts with access to inside: Easy, just grab the protruding sert with visegrips and either screw off from outside or cut off from inside.

Without inside access: May want to try spinning and forcing them out -as Scamper has mentioned earlier- as the inside lip is very thin and not much wider than the hole in the roof so it may not take that long before the lip is worn off. Note that the nutserts appear to be steel (magnetic) but seem fairly soft.

What not to do: I have a frozen screw in the front (over the sunroof pan) that I had drilled the head out. To try and unscrew it, I grabbed the outside lip of the nutsert with visegrips and then tried the turn the screw with other visegrips. Result: the outside lip of the nutsert broke off. Now the screw is still in there, the sert is still attached to the screw and if let go, it'll fall in! This means I may need to remove the sunroof pan to get access to that one, or I may try and force it out...

Still a long way to go.

Suggestion: if you still have these things on your roof, go out, remove the screws and lube them. This way there are less likely to rust frozen to the serts....

sigh...

E

 

[e9999]

OK, good news, finally something working out fairly easily...

Had a frozen screw at the front LHS corner which as I mentioned above, got loose and was at risk of falling inside the sunroof housing.

But I was able to get it without taking the sunroof pan/housing off. I opened the sunroof, stuffed a bunch of stuff on the side of the sunroof to prevent the screw from falling in the pan, grabbed it from below with one of those pinching retrieval gizmos, and then cut off most of the screw sticking out outside with a Dremel (it's too long to be removed from below otherwise). I was then able to pull out the sert and screw from the front through the gap between sunroof glass and roof! All right!

Even better, it seems that it should be trivial to get rid of all the serts in the front without too much trouble by placing a pan/mat of sorts under them through that same gap, and then grinding out their outside lips. They would then fall on top of the pan and could be pulled through the front.

IOW, if I'm a bit lucky I may not have to remove the sunroof! Yea!


Final tally: all screws removed, 5 holes plus 11 serts in various stages of rusting.

Now to fill these babies up...



E

 

[e9999]

Another good trick:

had to remove another spinner, with access from underneath. Instead of grinding the outside lip, I just squished it a few times with visegrips and it broke pretty quick. I just pulled it then from the inside. Much faster than grinding. Gotta have access to underside though.

Best way still would be to pull them off from the outside. May try Scamper's spin off methods for grins... Eh, might as well make the best out of this nightmare, right?

E

 

[Rookie2]

Eric,

You plan on taping & bondo-ing the holes and then painting the top (full monty)?

 

[e9999]

Eric,

You plan on taping & bondo-ing the holes and then painting the top (full monty)?

at this point, not sure but not that likely. $$ are tight so I may just try and touch up the rusty areas myself (first time ever on a car) and then using either bolts or the plastic plugs...

I don't know the first thing about Bondo and taping. Any good resource out there on the web on how to do this?

What was also disturbing is some indication of possible rust under the skinny rails in the middle. But have not opened that yet.

this is really turning out to be a big job

oh well...

E

 

[PHAEDRUS]

Do not tape and bondo!!!!!!!!
this is a 3-5 year fix at best, eventually it will crack, especially if you ever put any weight on the roof panel itself. pay someone to weld them shut and if $$ is tight just touch up those areas. the only other viable option is to put in some new nutserts and then try to cover as per the c-dan rosette wather method.
Dave

 

[Scamper]

Dave,

I agree that taping and filling will not last. I wouldn't even give that a year. But I think using glass matt instead of tape would give it the necessary druability to hold up well, and probably as well as a welded patch, so long as it was prepped well and wasn't just slapped on the surface.

 

[RavenTai]

if you have no body work experience an 80 may not be the best thing to cut your teeth on

got any buddies that are handy with a sander?

 

[cruiserdan]

If you do not intend to properly weld and metal-finish the holes, it is best to re-set inserts and do what I did.






Trust me on this one, if nothing else.........


D-

 

[Riley]

Eric, this is totally obsessive even for the 80s gang.

Couldn't you just have pulled the stuborn nutserts out and replaced with new? I'll gladly ship you about 10 of them. I'll even pay for the shipping.

I can't believe you pulled the headliner. Probably would have been easier to route an improved AC duct to get cooler temps.

Rant off... oh and please pardon the rant, us Canadians try to be as polite as possible eh?

That's why we won't let Junk in.

 

[Rich]

If I went to the trouble to remove the nutserts I sure wouldn't replace them with more nutserts.....but.....If I ever needed to install external nutserts for some more useful reason I would surely spend the extra trouble and money to find and use stainless steel nutserts. Preferably 316 alloy stainless.

 

[e9999]

If you do not intend to properly weld and metal-finish the holes, it is best to re-set inserts and do what I did.






Trust me on this one, if nothing else.........


D-

I do trust you, oh wise one, you know that...
Where do I find one of these tools if I want to go that route?

E

 

[e9999]

Eric, this is totally obsessive even for the 80s gang.

Couldn't you just have pulled the stuborn nutserts out and replaced with new? I'll gladly ship you about 10 of them. I'll even pay for the shipping.

I can't believe you pulled the headliner. Probably would have been easier to route an improved AC duct to get cooler temps.

Rant off... oh and please pardon the rant, us Canadians try to be as polite as possible eh?

That's why we won't let Junk in.

Riley,
I had some spinners, dude! Didn't find a clean way to pull them off at the time. In retrospect these things are pretty flimsy, it might indeed be possible to spin or force them out, but didn't know that at the time...
Where would I get a tool to put new 'serts in ? I asked around a bit, and nobody even knew about these...
E

 

[e9999]

If I went to the trouble to remove the nutserts I sure wouldn't replace them with more nutserts.....but.....If I ever needed to install external nutserts for some more useful reason I would surely spend the extra trouble and money to find and use stainless steel nutserts. Preferably 316 alloy stainless.

I think welding will be too costly. And then I have to remove the sunroof housing too...

Seems like it'll have to be plastic plugs, new 'serts, or possibly SS bolt with rubber or nylon washer, and a loctited nut underneath...

Can they make SS 'serts? these things have to be crimped...

E

 

[Riley]

Riley,
I had some spinners, dude! Didn't find a clean way to pull them off at the time. In retrospect these things are pretty flimsy, it might indeed be possible to spin or force them out, but didn't know that at the time...
Where would I get a tool to put new 'serts in ? I asked around a bit, and nobody even knew about these...
E

I had some spinners too but they just came out with a little tug & twist. Maybe I was just lucky.

Did you try asking a bodyshop about the SST or even a dealer that has a bodyshop.

My point is that the easy fix is to just replace the nutserts from the outside IF you go to the trouble to pull the headliner then I'd at least ask for a quote to weld it up.

Just seems like a lot of trouble to pull headliner and THEN put back in nutserts

I feel your pain....

 

[e9999]

I had some spinners too but they just came out with a little tug & twist. Maybe I was just lucky.

Did you try asking a bodyshop about the SST or even a dealer that has a bodyshop.

My point is that the easy fix is to just replace the nutserts from the outside IF you go to the trouble to pull the headliner then I'd at least ask for a quote to weld it up.

Just seems like a lot of trouble to pull headliner and THEN put back in nutserts

I feel your pain....

well, I got the headliner out cuz I didn't think/know that the spinners could be pulled out easily from the outside. Now that I've seen how thin the inside lips are I think this is a possibility, but I was afraid to bend the roof metal. I may try again with a couple of easily accessible ones and see if that works...

Also, if I were to have it welded up, cost be darned, I'd still have to pull out the sunroof housing too and that is also a big job...
E

 

[e9999]

anybody else was able to just pull the nutserts out from the outside?
E

 

[RavenTai]

I was able to grind the lip of the nutsert and push them in, not sure if this is what you are aksing for?

 

[RavenTai]

I do trust you, oh wise one, you know that...
Where do I find one of these tools if I want to go that route?

E

in aircraft the name for nutsert is rivnut, these guys sell an M5 rivnut tool, 10-32 fasteners are close enough to fit in the M5 nutserts but you will need an M5 tool to set them


http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/econrivtool.php


hey Eric, could i talk you into one thread per project? it is a PITA to follow all of these threads that have a similar subject, also makes it easier for people to search for later

 

[e9999]

I was able to grind the lip of the nutsert and push them in, not sure if this is what you are aksing for?

no, the opposite. Sounds like some people were able to just pull them off from the outside. So one does not need to remove the headliner. That would be great.

E