Up a creek w/ struts

So I'm deleting the 3" spacer my truck came w/, changing original Bilstein 4600s to 5100s. On the passenger side, some jackwagon put red threadlocker on the strut mount bolts and they have now rounded the splines of the bolt in the mount plate. The problem:

The nuts are fused to the bolts, and the bolts are spinning freely in the mount plate. They are flat and round on the underside so I can't get vise grips on them. I mangled one w/ an angle grinder, tried to jb weld the underside boltheads to the plate and letting them cure overnight, plan on using Mapp gas to heat up, grind a square section in the bolt ends to try and get a wrench on them, and using as much foul language as possible. Am I missing something? 3 are stuck, one came out just fine. TIA for any ideas.

 

Oooof. What a dirt bag… ha.

First - your decision to delete the strut spacer and replace it with a 5100 is a wise one which I fully support.

Second - there are a few options, some will suck more than others.

- Heat is good. It will loosen the thread locker, but be careful you don’t burn something you don’t want to, or light the truck on fire. There are some fuel lines on the drivers side frame rail, if memory serves. Welding blanket, tinfoil, something not flammable to protect the parts around it, and a very controlled flame. They also make inductive heaters for bolts and nuts, but you would have to order one online and wait for it.

- You may be able to find a nut splitter at a parts store. The basically fit over top of the nut with a threaded punch that you run in to the side of the nut to split it.

- Grind two flats on the bottom of the stud so you can get a wrench on it. I had a shackle bolt break free from its press fit in the shackle and had to use that method to remove it.

- Grind away the bottom of the stud completely. Or chisel it off. Unfortunately, you only have access to the front two studs so you would need another solution for the rears.

- Hammer and chisel (or air hammer if you have one) the rear nuts until they crack or break the stud. PITA, and you need to be careful not to hit more vital stuff. I’d recommend stuffing rags or something behind the bolts in the fender to keep from punching into the engine bay.

- sawzall or grind a vertical slot in the top of the stud down in to the nut. Smack that with a chisel to split the nut.

Good luck

 

Super helpful, I will get at it early tomorrow and hope that it goes well! Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it. Gotta love all the snags that come w/ DIY truck work. But it's worth it, love the truck and want it to last as long and as safely as possible.

 

Yikes!!
Thats Gonna Be a Tough Nut to Crack!!!
Pun intended....
Stuff like that Sucks since you have to avoid damage to the surrounding parts.
You could tack weld the studs from the bottom to stop em from spinning.
But that still leaves you with the issue of getting to the back two.
As much as ya hate to damage the surrounding parts you might have to.
And then make a plate to replace the damaged area and weld it in.
But then you run the risk of annealing the metal (making it soft).
Not knowing the process they used to make the stock parts is an issue because of that.
But I dont imagine they used heat treated material to start with.
If you were to remove the strut it would give you a little more room to work with.
A cutting torch would work for the front two,and you could do the same on the spacer(cut away most of it) so it would be easier to get to the back two with the cutting torch.
Trying to think how the pros would go about it.
You'd think they would have run across situations like this before.
If they're that jacked up the cutting torch might be your only option.