Stripped bolt

Lots of options OP!! Good luck! Let us know how you do!

 

If the nut is still in place, try fastening a pair of vice grips to the bolt head and turn counter clockwise while pulling down. it may catch the thread and then you can remove it.

 

The weld nut has not broken free if the bolt is tightening 1/2 turn then quits tightening. If the weld were broken loose, it wouldn't tighten even a 1/2 turn, it would just free-wheel.

To remove the stripped bolt, pull down on the head as you slowly turn the bolt counter-clockwise (Lefty-Loosey). Even better, insert a BIG flat screwdriver under the head and use that to lever down on the head as you turn. You can probably get the bolt out. Then you need to decide if it's the bolt or the weld nut that is stripped by examining the bolt threads closely. Stripped threads can be hard to see sometime; maybe just a single cut across a thread, not necessarily all of them boogered.

Try a fresh bolt, and get it started straight WITHOUT the bracket in the way the first time. If you begin to feel unusual resistance after less than two turns, you're probably still not started straight, or you're trying to use a common thread in a metric hole. Because you've boogered the threads, there may be a little more resistance, but not like before. If you used the aftermarket hardware, it's likely the bolt that stripped. I would have more faith in OEM hardware than aftermarket China-made; i.e. use the Toyota bolts if they're still there.

 

Thank you for the good information

 

The better term is not "stripped" but "cross-threaded". You've managed to get the first few threads cross-threaded by starting the bolt crooked.

If you can get the old bolt out, and overcome the cross-threading by carefully starting a fresh bolt straight, you probably won't have to do any re-tapping. If you have a metric tap with the right thread, you could use it to very carefully clean up the cross-threading in the weld nut, but that can be dangerous without experience and is probably not essential. The original Toyota bolts like those are self-tapping...they were originally driven into a virgin unthreaded weld nut with a power tool. If you get one started crooked, it will cut new threads or mess up the old threads.

Good luck.