Stripped out skid plate bolts

[miskywhisky]

Ugh, down to 3 now, 1 upper and 2 lower. What did you guys do to replace them? Retap, left it off? Something tricky? Want a sturdy replacement since i plan to hit some snow this weekend.

[ayjay]

No reason you can't: Drill out and re-tap for one size larger bolt, or fill the hole with a weld and tap that (though that will be some HARD ass steel). I've got a small wire feed welder, grinder, sawsall, and such and it makes small repairs like this fairly easy.

[intender]

Mine are stripped out too. I plan on drilling mine out and welding a nut on the back side. I tried drilling them out and rethreading the holes, but that didnt work out too well. not sure what is on the back side that was threaded, but after I drilled it out to a slightly larger hole there wasnt enough material left to catch a thread on any of the front ones. the back ones I was able to rethread without issue.

[Mirage]

I stuck helicoils in mine awhile back, haven't had an issue with one since.

[TJTJ]

My issue is more typically about the bolt HEADS being shaved off than the threads stripping...and, yeah, helicoils can fix that.

You can PREVENT stripping by using a torque wrench though.

[intender]

are helicoils something you use after they have been stripped out. I have never heard of them before.

whoever owned my truck before me stripped all of them out. I had 2 bolts that looked like stock ones that were cross threaded holding the front on, and 1 in the back that someone had already drilled the hole out and put a 1/2 inch lag screw in it. I am one of the worlds worst at rigging crap up, but thats a sad way to do it.