That sounds like a good way to go if you don't have the space to get a decent swing with a hammer.

 

I've had luck just heating to cherry red, then spray down with kroil or pb blast till cool. Keep applying the penatrant till cool and take a break. Come back and start over. 9-10 times a bolt is stripped or broken is due to a lack of patience! Ask me how I know! It's preached around here for turbo removal, so why not for any other practices? When you just get to it and bear down on a bolt that is rusted or excessively tight, alot of heat is created all of a sudden. Then the bolt swells and gets even tighter. Next comes stripped hardware or broken bolts. If you are goin to use heat there are two reasons, first is to free up the rust or burn off paint. Second is to be applied to the outer material, mainly the nut, to get it expanding to allow for some clearance around the bolt. However when you try this method and the heat gets to the bolt, you've lost it. Now the bolt is expanding with the nut and they are seized together again. Time to cool down again. Good luck and hope this may help someone!

 

Forgot to add, once a bolt is gaulded you can hang it up. Next step is drilling and taping or using a nut underneath. On a side note I do realize this is the inside of your truck and could see why this may not all seem as easy as it seems!

 

welding a nut is my suggestion.....

 

And a good one!

 

I got to work on the bolt a little bit today and made some progress. I started getting a cap nut on the bottom end of the bolt that protruded through the bottom of the cab. I tightened it onto the end of the bolt and kept going until it broke the bolt loose. I was then able to keep turning the bolt until the cap nut became flush with the bottom side of the floor pan. I did heat it up with MAP gas this time instead of a heat gun and that did help in the process.

I then used a vise grip to grab hold of the exposed bolt on it's end where the tapered part of the threads are as to ensure I didn't mangle the part of the bolt threads that would pass through the nut piece in the floor pan. I wasn't able to get much done that way. There just wasn't enough for the vise grips to grab onto. I also tried to grab the head of the bolt with the vise grips with no luck.

I don't have any much workable room left at the end of the threads now that there's only .5" - .75" exposed. At the head of the bolt, there's an accessibility issue due to the steel plate that it holds down which is responsible for anchoring the end of the seat belt. I have no access to a welder and there's no engine in my truck to take it to someone who does right now.

I guess I'll have to resume this project when the engine is back in unless someone has an idea to remove the rest of the bolt.

Thanks,
Drake

 

Irwin Deep Well Bolt-Grip Fastener Removers – 3/8in. Drive, 5-Pc. Set, Model# 394001 | Sockets | Northern Tool + Equipment



Would this work for you? If you know the size you could go down to your local auto parts store a pick up a set, or just the one size needed. Good luck

 

I am very late to this rodeo. My input is likely too late for Cutlass, but the readers might find this useful.

I had leaky exhaust manifolds and I was taking the truck in for this and some other work. The bolts notoriously break off when trying to remove a manifold and this adds to the service time, so I took prevetative measures. I had an appointment with the mechanic the following week, so I hit every bolt with PB Blaster every day until the appointment. The mechanic reported he had zero problems getting the bolts out.

I have a set of tools to remove stubborn bolts - including something similar to what Backdraft-14 suggests. I also have what I call "EZ Outs", which are like a very tough tapered reverse screw. You drill a hole in the center of the offending bolt and use the EZ Out to unscrew the bolt. This frequently won't work unless you've at least unsiezed the bolt with one of the many methods mention above.

 

Luckily, at this point I do have the bolt unsiezed. It's now just a matter of getting a good enough grip on it to turn it he rest of the way out. I'm going to pick up a Bolt extractor kit like Backdraft-14 suggested and hopefully this will do the trick.

By the way, using a chisel on the head of the bolt didn't work for me. Those bolts are so hardened that the chisel made absolutely zero nicks or marks at all on the head of the bolt. Just not able to bite onto it. The chisel just bent up like butter on it. I just have a hand chisel, not an air hammer chisel.

I'll let you know what happens with the bolt extractor tool after I get it.

Thanks,
Drake

 

drive a 12 point socket onto the head of the bolt,back out with a ratchet(since its already loose)

 

Sorry I forgot to update you all on this....

I did get that bolt out, but it took me days of work. I ended up using my MAP torch to heat up the nut piece that the bolt goes through on the under side of the cab. Countless times. After heating it up and spraying PB Blaster on the bolt from underneath, allowing the lubricant to wick up into the threads as they cooled. On the head of the rounded bolt I had to painstakingly grab onto what so very little my vise grips could and try and back it out about 1 degree of bolt rotation at a time. It took a very long time to even get the bolt to move at all.

Finally, the more it turned out of the socket, the more of the bolt head there was exposed making it a little easier as time went on. Finally, it came out! I hope I NEVER have to deal with that problem again.

I'll go to the scrap yard and get a new seat belt torx bolt and replaced my rounded out one here in the next few days.

I hope none of you has to ever deal with this.

Drake

 

congrats! its a constant battle with these older trucks!

 

x2. zap a nut on the stripped one

 

Why wetting the floor and rag?

 

so you dont burn the carpet?