So, I went to take off the shiny chrome brush guard that came on my Frontier. I got the guard off of the brackets that bolt to the frame, but when I went to take the brackets off the frame, they are bolted with a nut that is apparently sealed inside the frame. Is there some way to get those off. The nut in the frame is just spinning and there is apparently no way to hold it...

You could grind off the head of the bolt and allow the remaining piece to drop into the frame. If it happens to stay put long enough, you can tack weld it to keep it from falling in and possibly rattling.

X2 on the above advice. Grind the head off the bolt. sounds like the welded nut inside the frame has broken loose. No easy way around that other than just cutting/grinding the bolt head off.

i think the frontiers didnt have the welded nut. my HB does but my friends frontier 4x4 didnt.

but yeah damage multiplier is a great name for it,

i saw a otherwise decent looking 90's superduty thursday with the hood kinked up in the middle. the sweet chrome guard nailed the front of the hood and kinked it right across the middle. no other visual damage though.

Thanks for the advice guys, the only problem is that there is another bracket held on by the same bolts. I need to figure out exactly what the other brackets hold. There are a couple little holes on the bottom of the frame for the crumple zone, I am wondering if I could squeeze some JB weld or even a welder through the hole and tack weld the nuts on.

Post some pictures.

The crumple zone does indeed have nuts welded to the inside that held on the stock bumper.

The downside here is those are what's used to bolt up an aftermarket bumper like an ARB or Shrock winch bumper, but cutting the bolt head off is the way to go and if you go with that type of aftermarket bumper at some point you'll need to drill through the frame rail and use a through bolt to secure it.

quote:

Originally posted by Reserector:
Post some pictures.

Alright, here are some pictures:

Here are the 2 bolts that need to be removed on each side. This is from the viewpoint laying on the ground looking up at the frame. The metal plate in the foreground is the bracket that holds the brush guard. Above/Behind that is the other bracket held on with those same bolts.


Here it is from behind the bracket. On top is the brush guard bracket. Through those little holes I can see the nuts spinning. I don't think they were ever welded, since all 4 of them spin freely.




Here is one last one. Where you can see front and back in the same shot. So, sounds like the best way is going to be cut off the bolts, drill out the other side and put a through bolt in to hold the existing bracket in place. Correct?

quote:

Originally posted by azorr:
So, sounds like the best way is going to be cut off the bolts, drill out the other side and put a through bolt in to hold the existing bracket in place. Correct?

Unless you can figure out how to get nuts IN there AND hold them, through-bolting appears to be the only solution. Well, I suppose you could weld it.