Silly Bolt wont come off!

[wpiner88]

Sorry for the stupid question but im honestly stumped.

How the **** do i get this bolt off???? Its the battery cradle bolt and it just spins and spins when i turn it. Am i missing something here? Is it just stripped to **** or do i need to do something else to get it off.

Thanks : )

 

[hawkeye18]

Oooh, you might've spun the nut on the other side of the wheel arch.

You might be able to get to the other side of it by taking the wheel and splash guard off. I don't know. You might have to grind the head of the bolt off . That bolt is famously hard to get out, though, due to the inevitable battery acid that gets down there...

 

[Storm-Chaser]

I know from experience that you can access the bolt from underneath by removing the plastic inner fender.

The "nut" is a retangular shaped stamped-steel nut that is embedded into the inner fender sheetmetal. It may be that the threads are gone from the bolt, allowing it to spin but not catch the lower threads. In that case you can grind-off either the head or shaft of the bolt, to remove it.

One word of caution. Before you screw a new bolt back into the steel nut, run a tap through it several times to clean-up the threads . . . .

 

[93rev2sev]

You don't even need to remove the splashguard. You can wiggle your hand up there and feel it. If you can feel it, you can get a wrench on it.

 

[wpiner88]

Thanks for the help. I had to remove the splash guard to access the bolt as you guys said.

Well the threads in the bolt are fine but for some reason the metal that held the bolt in place seems to have been damaged somehow. This is what is allowing it to spin freely. Its threaded very tight so i have to figure out a way to stop the bolt from spinning around, any ideas? Il try and break it free tomorrow.

Heres a pic of what i mean.

 

[hawkeye18]

Do you mean that the nut portion is spinning with the nut, then just get some vise grips or an appropriate wrench and hold it still. If the threads aren't engaging the nut for whatever reason, then whack the bottom of the bolt with a hammer or whatever is handy to try to force the good threads into the nut.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

I would start off with at least once-per-day applications of PB Blaster to help loosen the rust/corrosion around the threads.

You may be able to get a pair of straight-jaw vice-grips on the long-edge of the rectangular nut, but realize that the nut is in-set into the inner fender sheetmetal, which won't give you a lot of "nut" to work with.

 

[SHO.fast]

"nut" .

why did you put parenthesizes around nut ???????


hitting at something
:laugh_ti:

 

[oneqwicksho]

If you got a welder tack weld the nut in place that way it won't spin. And did you buy your sho in girard, ohio if so I kno that car

 

[Bizzy]

LOL, you guys are killing me!

Take a small wire brush and a few squirts of Berrymans or PB and clean the end of the bolt off first. If you have a torch, put some heat to it for a few minutes. Then take a flat head screwdriver and try to get it over top of the nut and apply downward pressure on it. Then zip the bolt out from up top.

If you can't get the tip of the s-driver over the top of the nut enough to apply pressure to it, stabilize the nut with a pair of vice grips, then from up top put the tip of the s-driver under the head of the bolt and put upward pressure on it while turning it with your ratchet. It might be easier to do it this way.

It just needs a little help to get it started back into the good threads on the nut, if there are even any good ones left.

 

[wpiner88]

Well i tried it all and failed.

I had to bust out the dremel and grind the bolt down. Man that was freaking crazy just to get the battery cradle off, welcome to working on the ford taurus sho

Thanks for the help!

 

[shospeed]

Have you tried holding the bottom bolt with something?

 

[Storm-Chaser]

Ah, because it wasn't a "bolt", or a "thing"

why did you put parenthesizes around nut ???????


hitting at something
:laugh_ti:

 

[Storm-Chaser]

And then what, turn the whole car . . . ?

Sorry, you left yourself wide-open on that one . . . .

:laugh_ti:


Have you tried reading the thread ?

Have you tried holding the bottom bolt with something?

Well i tried it all and failed.

I had to bust out the dremel and grind the bolt down. Man that was freaking crazy just to get the battery cradle off, welcome to working on the ford taurus sho

Thanks for the help!

 

[wpiner88]

If you got a welder tack weld the nut in place that way it won't spin. And did you buy your sho in girard, ohio if so I kno that car

Nope i bought it here in Columbus.

 

[1995SHO9]

Grind it off. I had to do that on mine.


EDIT: Didn't read thread first, you got it off, but next time just grind the bitch off, you don't need it.

~Johnathon~