Rear Bumper Frame - Captive Nut Broken (1 Viewer)

[florida95fzj]

I removed my hitch receiver and one of the six captive nuts is broken inside of the rear frame. Unfortunately, it's the nut that is by itself and farthest from the bumper. They are not evenly spaced out so it wouldn't be my first choice to do without that fastener.

My aftermarket bumper will be in the way so that I cannot put a very long wrench into the frame opening to hold a new nut for tightening.

I've been thinking about maybe something steel that can wrap around the frame and the bumper mounting plate.

I imagine drilling a hole all the way through the frame isn't a good idea.

Any ideas what to do here?

 

[artech]

I have a similar problem with one of the nuts in my front frame. I have already chiseled the old nut out and am trying to figure out a work-around since it is one of the nuts for the bolts that hold my plow frame on in the winter, so it kinda really needs to be there. I may drill and tap a hole in a long flat bar that reaches back to the hole, locate the bar with a bolt through the hole, then weld the bar to the inside frame in the front where I can get at it, and cut whatever sticks out off so the bumper will fit. I'm not sure anything else is possible with the equipment I have, it's kind of a lash up but it should work. If anyone else has a better idea I'm all ears!

 

[florida95fzj]

@artech Do you think drilling all the way through the frame and using a longer bolt with a nut on the outside would be strong enough?

 

[Malleus]

Drill a hole in the frame, next to the hole you want the nut over. Use a 90° open end wrench in that hole to hold the nut while you turn the bolt. Or use a crow's foot.
Something like this:

Or, you can use the same method to get a weldnut inside the frame, weld it from the underside. Not the preferred method of installing weldnuts, but it'll work.

These holes are all over the frame; the manufacturers call them tooling holes, because they're used to get tooling into the frame while it's being manufactured.

 

[florida95fzj]

Drill a hole in the frame, next to the hole you want the nut over. Use a 90° open end wrench in that hole to hold the nut while you turn the bolt. Or use a crow's foot.

These holes are all over the frame; the manufacturers call them tooling holes, because they're used to get tooling into the frame while it's being manufactured.

Thanks, I had no idea a tool like this existed. Finding a 19mm or 3/4" seems to be challenging but now I know what to look for.

 

[fjbj40]

Why not use a nutsert?

 

[florida95fzj]

Why not use a nutsert?

Never heard of it. Have used a rivet tool before but not this. This seems really interesting. Thanks

 

[baldilocks]

If you chose to remove the hitch and you already have an aftermarket bumper installed, what will you need this captured nut for?

 

[florida95fzj]

If you chose to remove the hitch and you already have an aftermarket bumper installed, what will you need this captured nut for?

The bumper uses the hitch receiver mounting points. It’s attached using the 6 bolt holes.

 

[baldilocks]

The bumper uses the hitch receiver mounting points. It’s attached using the 6 bolt holes.

My 4x4Labs bumper uses the four rear most bolts and the six (3 on each side) smaller 8mm bolt holes that were used to mount the factory tire carrier. I’d venture to say that the 4 large holes on the bottom of the frame would be enough. I actually use my 80 off road and beat the tar out of my rear bumper 8 years now with zero problems.

 

[florida95fzj]

My 4x4Labs bumper uses the four rear most bolts and the six (3 on each side) smaller 8mm bolt holes that were used to mount the factory tire carrier. I’d venture to say that the 4 large holes on the bottom of the frame would be enough. I actually use my 80 off road and beat the tar out of my rear bumper 8 years now with zero problems.

Good to know, especially since I am not going to end up with something as strong as weld most likely.

So far this has been a lot tougher than my front bumper. I can't get either side of the rear bumper holes to line up at the same time. My rear frame might be bent a bit. Hopefully with a helper tomorrow I can find a way to make it line up and still get the bolts in straight. I never noticed any rear end damage but I am wondering if it has been hit.

 

[baldilocks]

What bumper do you have?

 

[artech]

@artech Do you think drilling all the way through the frame and using a longer bolt with a nut on the outside would be strong enough?

For the bumper only, probably? But if you want to pull from the hitch- particularly if you want it to take the force of a recovery- then I wouldn't trust a through-bolt setup. You'd be hard pressed to be able to tighten it enough without distorting the frame I'd think, as the regular setup sandwiches two thicknesses of metal directly together. A through bolt would add a third piece and a lot of empty space in between. I thought about it for my setup but with the amount of force on the plow frame I don't think it will hold up. Hopefully someone else here with more experience will have your answer.

 

[florida95fzj]

What bumper do you have?

Gobi-X. Ended up with the four bolts in the frame bottom and two bolts in the bottom row in center of the frame. The two above it had a plastic thread that was disintegrated. I will rivnut those. The farthest frame bottom bolt holes don't even line up so I have bigger problems there. Will have to figure this out next weekend.

 

[MUDZLLA]

can you drop a hex head bolt into the hole?

 

[sailor]

I welded a nut to a rectangular heavy plate with a hole drilled into the plate under the nut, heavily rust proofed it. slid it into the frame and inserted bolt from below like normal....