Some weld the cut out section back in when done with the operation.

 

I don't have access to a welder - so I was thinking that if it doesn't actually give any additional strength or durability (i'm not gonna go offroad with it, not a lot anyways) I might skip it and just bedline the inside. But since it holds the front of the leaf spring, I don't want the bolt tearing through it.

 

Alright - So i cut up quite a good piece of that little "box" and can now fit a wrench in there. It's a 22mm wrench right? The same as for the nuts at the rear?

I won't be able to get an angle grinder in there though, the disc is too big for it to reach without it tearing up more of the box, which I kind don't wanna do.

It looks quite rusted on there though so I'm thinking - is it possible to break the weld with just brute force (with the wrench)? Or will that just be something that's gonna "break" my arm?

And, once again - i'm not sure I wanna weld the hole up once it's done - but will that be an issue in the long run with the leaf spring weight hanging on that bolt/nut for example?

 

Got a sawz all cut the bolt just on other side of nut maybe ?

 

Ye, don't wanna cut the nut clean of and have a bolt stuck with nothing at all but will check into it.

 

Do you have access to an air compressor and air tools? Use an air chisel and bust that sucker out. Regular hammer and chisel can work, but I've always been a big fan of letting the tools do the work. Work the end of the chisel between the nut and the box, it'll come out eventually...

 

Nuts still welded on not broke loose from body ?

 

If you cut head of bolt off and leafs still on bolt cut leaf and bushing off use pipe wrench oon shaft of bolt while holding nut with wrench. Drowned it in pb blast before and during process....

 

Nope :/ No air tools at all. I went at it with a chisel once, didn't seem to do any damage to it though, seems to be in there good and tight.

Seems to still be welded to the side of the box, didn't really get a feel for it since I didn't have the right wrench for it.

The leaf spring is long gone and the head of the bolt is also gone. I'll get a few pcitures of the operation for you guys tomorrow so you can see what i'm dealing with!

 

So, did you continue to drill out the hole at all? Starting to sound like this is going to be your best bet....as far as the nut goes, are you able to see or get to the spot welds at all? You may need to file/cut the spot welds down a bit before you can chisel at all. If you can, file the spot welds (or dremel) to help weaken the bond and then chisel...other than these two suggestions, I don't have much else to offer, as your options are sounding pretty limited. The garage you are working in, are there other people working there? Start talking to some of them, maybe they can give you some insight on how to move forward, never hurts to have a second set of eyes and a different perspective....

EDIT: After thinking on this for a few minutes, you may need to do both the drilling, and break the nut free. Keep drilling out the hole, get it as big as possible and remove as much of the bolt from the center of the nut as you can. Don't worry about cutting into the threads, just replace the nut at the end of this process. Once you have enough of the bolt gone, go in through the access hole you cut, and use a sawzall to cut the nut in half. Not having the remaining bolt in the center of the hole will make cutting the nut that much easier. Then chisel the 2 halves out, one side at a time, chisel from the center of the cut, to the spot weld, clean up any remaining weld or burrs, and replace with new hardware. I would suggest just using a decent quality primer after the hardware is replaced to prevent rust, not bedliner (from your previous post) in case you ever need to access it again. Keep us posted.

 

If this is what your working with, and easy out aint getting it break the nut loose from its weld and get new bolt,nut and washers. ...

 

I cleaned the nut from the inside - it had a lot of junk but no water or any of that kind. But! Checking out the nut, I didn't see any weld points or marks at all when checking it out from the sides and the bottom, I can't see the top of the nut but i doubt it only has weld spots there.

I liked the idea of getting a sawzall and going at it, maybe just for loosening it but then just getting a wrench and either breaking my arm, the wrench or the nut.

But I will try and drill more into the nut as you said earlier, since it does more good than harm, the bolt/nut is going out one way or the other.

Yep, that's exactly what I'm working with. The easy out didn't do anything but I used that before I knew about the welded nut on the other side.

But how does the options sound, because if it's welded, it should be easy so spot! And I don't see any sign of welding on that nut, perhaps it's just rusted on?

Will a small butane torch do any magic? I've got one that says it'll go up towards 1800C / 3200 F (doubt it does that much) if that might expand the metal or weaken the rust on it.

 

There spot welded from factory big chisel and hammer time or sawz all....

 

Yeah, I believe you but still, those welding spots should be visible!

 

Only other potions drill bolt all way thru big enough to slide new longer bolt thru it and put washers and nut on the nut.