Need advice. This bolt holds down brackets on the floor of an E-350 Super Duty 15 passenger van. The brackets are for the bench seats in the back. The bolt is aprox. 2.5" long x 7/16" thick. Took out 25 of these so far, and stripped the 55mm torex head on 2 em.The torex bit is a little rounded now too. Had to use a breaker-bar to loosen all of em.
Can I grind down the heads(about 1" across & 5/16" thick) so I can pull the other brackets? What to use? They may be hardened metal, but the torex socket was able to shred the six point hole under alota pressure. Got a dremel, but that seems like it'ed be too wimpy. Certain ones are located in areas where it's hard to access them with a large tool.
Can you grind two flat sides 180 across from each other , for a wrench or vise grips pliers. Can you see the under side of the bolts were they go through the floor , last resort for the vise grips worst case !!
Some times just hitting the top of the bolt to smash down will give you another bite on the torex walls ..
Weld a nut to em .
if you can't do that because of access or fire danger then it's Chissel Time.
Do you mean "The torex bit is a little rounded now too." Torx?
If the Torx bit, you are using, is rounded/damaged, replace and use a new one. A damaged bit is only going to damage more screws ;)
Quote from: Wompus Cat on March 09, 2021, 01:16:16 AM
Weld a nut to em .
if you can't do that because of access or fire danger then it's Chissel Time.
Ah, but does he then use the open end of the wrench or the ratchet end?
Quote from: MarkT on March 09, 2021, 01:30:15 AM
Quote from: Wompus Cat on March 09, 2021, 01:16:16 AM
Weld a nut to em .
if you can't do that because of access or fire danger then it's Chissel Time.
Ah, but does he then use the open end of the wrench or the ratchet end?
Use a Quality 6 point box end wrench if they are that tight as the Ratchet Wrench will probably break trying to bust the thing loose. Once you get it loose THEN you might use a Ratchet wrench .
If you have a decent quality torx socket you can grind off the first 1/16-1/8" that's rounded and still have a good usable socket. I have a couple I had to do that to and they work just find. If I couldn't get the bolts broke loose with the torx I would grind the sides of the bolt heads to fit the biggest open end wrench that will grab good. You can always trim the sides down to the next smaller size if need be. You should be able to grind those sides with your Dremel and a grinding disk, but it will be pretty tedious.
I came across those trying to take the bed off my Super Duty truck. I think there was eight of them. None would move without putting a four foot pipe extension over the breaker bar. One person would stand on the breaker bar while another person would turn the pipe extension. Shattered my torx bit and bought another. Before the end of the week we had bought and ruined every bit that size in town. I finally ground the head off four that wouldn't budge. After removing the bed, they were soaked with blaster again and the nub was grabbed with a big pair of vice grips. That got one more. The final three were ground off flush with the frame and we drilled three new holes through the bed and the frame to accept nut, bolt and washers
Get an acetelene torch and heat the nut red hot and quickly spin them out with a long handled 1/2" ratchet. Rudy
Quote from: RowdyW on March 09, 2021, 06:02:58 AM
Get an acetelene torch and heat the nut red hot and quickly spin them out with a long handled 1/2" ratchet. Rudy
LOL...without burning yourself! ::)
??? You guys are playing with fire here , enclosed cab , carpet a old man trying to wiggle around seats . :-\ :-\
I would use an impact to break the weld when can get something into it.
How about shims and then insert the torx, like hard paper that does not compress.
I had to do the same to my van, definitely some kind of loctite thing on the threads
I could hear it break the weld and then it was cake.
Hi Greg —
The issue is that Ford used "Torx Plus Bits" for ease of installation on the assembly line.
These are self aligning bits that fit the bolts without stripping about 100% better.
It is like difference between Phillips and JIS — or a regular screwdriver compared to a hollow ground driver.
Amazon has the size you need — "TP55", for a little over $8 delivered. I would buy a couple.
These are not available at your hardware stores — or even over the counter at Ford stores.
Ford went to these bolts in 1990. So yours must be newer that a '90
Best, Fred
What Fred said plus,
Homedepot actually the the single bit for I think $5. It is nearly always in stock and hanging next to the sockets.
This fisherman bought the whole dang set from Lowes just for that 1 bit >:(
If that doesn't work, how about drilling it out and using an easyout?
Butch
I usually use an Air chisel to break those loose if I can not use a torch to loosen the glue (locktight Crap ) or when even the best factory Tool strips out the damn thing and or I can't weld a nut to it .
??? Hey G , You alright or are you stuck in the van ?
Quote from: RowdyW on March 09, 2021, 06:02:58 AM
Get an acetelene torch and heat the nut red hot and quickly spin them out with a long handled 1/2" ratchet. Rudy
Better pray the gas tank isn't anywhere close :o , or you might end up in orbit with Elon's satellites. :D
Quote from: oldmanjoe on March 10, 2021, 07:30:18 PM
??? Hey G , You alright or are you stuck in the van ?
Ha! The van is one of 2 dry places outside of my house, now. Almost got stuck on my slightly sloped, drenched lawn tryin to go up for the HI-DMV safety inspection. And it has mud---"M/S" tires on it. Made it and the storm put out the state system at all insp. stations on the Island right before I got there. Gotta go again... Scared to tear-up the landlord's lawn any more. Just won't stop raining here. On the North end, Hanalei has a 1-week to remove slide blocking the hwy. and cutting-off the town. Weird weather so far this year. Most days here lately don't break 70 F.
Ok, thanks all for the great advice. 2 stripped-head-bolts and 6 never-touched-ones to go. Yeah Steve, I got a serious workout doin the others.
Man, Amazon has it ALL! Do I gotta go back to 'em? Stopped for political reasons but if they unionize some warehouses, may go back. Did get a new T55, but from Autozone. Will 1st try the grind-to-a-wrench-size thing. Then maybe heat.
One thing I failed at, was cleaning the 1/4" threaded ends sticking out the bottom of the frame. 10 yr. old vehicle from "Princeville Ranch Adventures". Good---only 51K miles, Bad--- dirt everywhere!
Sad to see them have to get rida their tourist trans. vehicle and they may go alla way under.
That's a big van. Are you pulling all the seats out to carry your Kayak?
Right now, it's dryer in my truck than it is in the house. The truck has heat too. But, I think you guys got it worse this week.
Yup. There was little rivers to cross on the roads and highway. Some folks were goin full speed through them. I spose that's what all those sirens were about.
Got my 12' space now. All the seats unclip from those bolted down brackets. Each one weighs roughly 100lbs., so it's now prolly only 6,000 lbs. "curb weight". What to do with the big 'ol bench seats?
Thought I checked everything, before pulling the trigger, but found the spare tire won't crank down and the jack was missing. Can't figure people out, the former owner/company say they never checked it out and I believe 'em. Why would anyone drive around without a functional spare tire system? All I gotta do is get that sucker down and store in in the back, a bottle jack is easy enough to buy...
G-man....those bench seats make great couches....especially in frat houses.... :-)
Bill speaks wisdom - for the longest time I had a 3rd Row bench seat as a couch out in the Man Cave. When I sold the vehicle however the seat was part of the package :D - john
Cool! Stack some cinder blocks on the tile floor and stick on top. Godda get rid a the 70's-too short-couch first. Nice hardwood construction, but too short and has that bright '70's multi-color motif. Bought a good old Benchcraft recliner several years ago. Lately it's been wiggling sidewise. Look underneath, rivets instead of bolts, cheap wood and too-thin metal.