last summer i pulled my 700-r4 trans and had it rebuilt...while i was pulling it i noticed the genius who worked on the car before me must have broke off one of the bolts holding the crossmember up...this guy doesn't seem like he has much common sense...listen to this...to fix it, he drilled the hole larger...drilled a hole in the side of the frame rail so he could get a wrench in there...and just put a bolt and nut on it and tightened it down...i've been debating on how to fix this for a while on and off...could i put a plate over the hole he drilled and drill and tap that the right size and replace the bolt...and if i did that, would i have to do the same thing to the other side so it wouldn't sit cockeyed? just a solution i came up with...any other ones, especially better ones, would be great....thanks.

 

Well, once they strip out, there is not much you can do (his solution was almost as good as any, but I still don't like it exactly). What I'd do, since the hole is already there.

Take the nut he used out of the frame, center it over the hole for the bolt. Mark the outside of the nut on the bottom of the frame rail. Drill 4 small holes just inside the marks. Put the nut back inside the frame and weld the nut to the body through those 4 holes (3/16 or 1/4 inch holes) and grind the welds off flush with the body. To finish up, weld a patch plate over the hole he cut (use reasonably heavy steel) and paint it to prevent rust (don't get paint in the threads of the nut).

That is how I'd approach it. I'm sure you'll get other ideas as well.

 

well, your suggestion would work if he had drilled the hole a little oversize so the nut would fit in the hole so it could be welded, but when he drilled it, he used about an inch drill bit so it's a pretty good size hole...i cant figure out for the life of me why he would drill the hole that much larger when all he had to do was open it up a little bit and maybe run a larger tap thru it...but he didn't do that so now i'm stuck with this problem....maybe i could find a piece of metal that would go inside the rail and i could weld it from the bottom and drill and re-tap the new plate...you think that would work?

 

That may work. Or, weld the nut to a plate, lay the plate inside the hole and drill through and weld the plate down. That may be easier.

 

I'll tell you why he drilled such a big hole: he didn't just strip the threads. He cross-threaded it and actually tore the welded nut completely out of the subframe. I've seen it happen before.

 

thanks for the replies, i'm gonna fix it this weekend if the weather holds up...much appreciated