Anybody done a u bolt conversion on gm d60

[diesel4me]

The housing has already been stress tested by the bent grade 8 bolt.....if it didn't crack then,I doubt losing about 1/8" of meat by drilling the hole larger and tapping it will bother it any..

E-Z outs usually expand the remains of a bolt and wedge it tighter instead of letting it turn and un-thread..I dislike using them,especially on smaller bolts under 3/8"..they break off in the bolt often and multiply the problem..

You might be able to use a cutting torch to slot what's left of the bolt threads,then cave them inward with a punch and take them out with needle nosed pliers or vise grips..then it might be possible to just run a tap thru the original threads and put in a new stud or bolt..

 

[sweetk30]

i do not own easy outs . they are not for me .

have you heated the piss out of it glowing red both bolt and housing ? shock it with cold yet ?

i bet if you heated it good and welded a nut to it it would come out . you removed a lot of the meat so its shrunk a bit on a tiny scale . then welding the new hole up and a nut to it will shrink it a bit more as it cools .

but what ever you do it will be fixed for sure .

if no u-bolt method i would do the 3rd bolt fix . and with your u-bolt plates thats easy to do .

also i am not knocking there strength but if you keep getting loose u-bolts and such the aftermarket plates are to thin to resist the clamping force flex to stay tight . also jump up a size in u-bolt rod from say 9/16" rod to 3/4 rod this will get you even more clamping force .

 

[down4thakrown]

That's what I was tryin to do with chisel. Took it all the way up to a 9/16 drill bit and still could barely pry old treads out. Heated the Pi's out of it a few times.. even had on blaster erupting and splattering out of it and continued to heat it after that. Then when I ran out of pro pane. Went and bought new bottle of map gas and heated and soaked it with cold water and heated again and pb blasted and heated it again and again and again. Then started drilling more...I never had luck with ez outs ethier.....but this is what cobbled screwed up mess I got myself into now.....and now I'm trying to decide whether to drill out to 3/4 or use ubolt???

 

[sweetk30]

3/4 tap out and do the 3rd and it will work .

and swap the center pin to a grd 5 bolt with the hex head rounded off for more clamping force also .

and fyi to others this job needs real heat from oxy/act tourch setup . i have also tried the map stuff and for this stuff its a lot of metal mass to cool off . so big heat for the big job . thumbs up for a good try tho .

 

[down4thakrown]

Ya I may just use 2 bolts for now. I'm in the process of building another k5. But won't be stripping this one down til next spring. And I'm not goin to use these springs again. And it's the way I have these springs set up that's giving me so many issues.

 

[sweetk30]

if you need i have a pair of bare gm 60 housings with good threads on all holes .

 

[down4thakrown]

How much would you want for one? I'll try to drill mine out first but if it turns into disaster...

 

[diesel4me]

X2 on the "real torches"--a small cutting tip would allow him to slot the remnant of the bolt and extract it as I described above..
My co-worker at the junkyard was a wizard with his cutting torch--he could get manifold studs out that were snapped almost flush ,cut metal like a plasma cutter too,without leaving a ragged cut edge..

I once brought him a manifold I had broken off a stud below flush in a blind hole,he just lit the torch,heated it up orange hot,hit the trigger,sparks blew out of the hole,and I was sure surprised to see original threads,he vaporized the stud completely,without melting the casting..years of practice & skill !..

 

[sweetk30]

there in the sale section .

 

[ChrisPerry]

Here's a look at how mine are. I use grade 8 allthread and locking nuts.

If you go this route I may have some of the g8 allthread here somewhere.

 

[down4thakrown]

View attachment 309243 View attachment 309244

Here's a look at how mine are. I use grade 8 allthread and locking nuts.

If you go this route I may have some of the g8 allthread here somewhere.

Awesome thanks! Ya I may try it before I commit to u bolt. Was looking it over and talking to some other guys and may try to drill and tap.

 

[beags86]

If it was me, I would yank the front axle out and get it chucked up in a mill for the drilling and tapping. It's alot of work, and you might not have a mill, and therefore would have to pay for it. But the end result would be worth it. Your close to the point of no return on that guy. In my opinion.

 

[down4thakrown]

If the axle comes out, it won't go back under this k5 lol but I'm definitely gonna take spring off. And if it goes bad I may just buy a houseing of k30, or his complete. I'm about to have it regeared in a couple months too. And I also have a 14bolt laying around, may make that a front axle too.

 

[down4thakrown]

Probably dum question but would 3/4 -16 the tap I'd want?

 

[ChrisPerry]

If memory serves, I did mine with course thread. 3/4" × 10

Being cast material I was afraid fine thread would gall the threads

 

[down4thakrown]

Thanks again ChrisPerry! They worked great!