The built in nut that the front sway bar bolt threads into is stripped. This is the threaded part that is inside the frame. Any suggestions on how to repair it? I thought about drilling it out, and trying to get a regular nut in through the access holes in the frame, but I'm not sure if I can get it.

Sure you can get to it. Which side is it?
Here's what I did. Get a grade 8 bolt about 1 1/4 " long. Weld a piece of 1/8 plate steel 1" wide approx 2.5 " long to the head. Helps if it offset to one side. This will keep the bolt from spinning. Now fish the bolt(with plate welded to it) thru the frame rail and down thru the swaybar hole. Install nut and lock washer.
Smile cuz you'll never have to worry about it again.
The only one you'll really hav etrouble with is the one on the Driver frame rail most aft hole.
Fishing it around the steering box support is a bit tricky.
Do each bolt individually dont try to gang them together(2 bolts on one plate) Dont ask how I found out about that graemlins/angry.gif

PS there really is no nut, self tapping bolts were used directly into the frame

I agree that there are no nuts but just threaded holes in the frame. How about welding up the hole and retapping it.

Drill the hole large enough to fit the right sized nut into and then weld it in place.

I stripped one on my 66, all I did was run the next size tap through it, and put a bolt in it, took all of about 5 min to fix!


Rocky

Heli-coil it.

http://chevelles.com/showroom/FO_FDYFO/frame-02-25-02l.jpg
you cant heli-coil it. its only thin sheet metal. there is nothing for the helicoil to be supported by. :(
here is what i did. i made blocks with tapped holes. drilled out the original threads in the frame and welded these in. i am using a 1-3/8 sway bar and i know they would have just pulled right out. smile.gif

oh, while you are at it, drill out the little drain hole near there with a 1/2' drill. those little holes always clogg up and cause things to rust out in there. you can see the hole i am talking about in the picture above. ;)

Mine ripped the whole piece out of the frame when I upgraded to a 1.25" sway bar. I did something similar to FOFDYFO, but not nearly as nice looking.

Or you can just place a nut on the bolt inside the frame rail. Just hold the nut in place by sticking your arm in the frame horn opening at the front. If you have really large hands try finding a helper with smaller limbs.

Well my fix worked well, so far, ...drill it out and tap it for a 3/8 thread ( cant remember if its fine or coarse thread)and use new bolts.

OK. I may try the tapping larger threads method. I don't have a welder, so it seems like the easiest fix. Thanks for all the replies. It's funny how you think of a fix that seems out of the ordinary and people look at you funny, then you read the same type of solutions here, and realize you are not insane after all!! You guys rock!

JM

Wish I remember if it was 3/8ths coarse or fine, think it was coarse, and I'll tell you, very little metal comes out when you pilot drill. You might be able to push the tap through there without it, if you're careful.

I did weld 3/8" coarse nuts on the back side of the plate I welded in place. I'm very pleased with it so far.

Regarding what Rich-L79 said above, I used a breaker bar (for the passenger side) to hold the nut and it worked great. Yesterday I noticed that my driver’s side is now stripped and only held on by the front bolt. When I tried to use my breaker bar and nut solution for this side, I noticed that the frame appears to be different inside due to some bolts that are holding the steering components in place. Is there any way to make the nut method work on the driver's side, or am I looking at a welding solution similar to what FO_FDYFO suggested? By the way, I have no welding skills or equipment, so any work-arounds are appreciated.

on mine I just drilled it and ran a self-tapping bolt the next size bigger through. (lack of tools handy where I was) It hasn't given me a problem in the 15,000 miles I put on since.

When I stripped one out, I retapped it to a metric bolt. It's in between the SAE sizes.