Anybody make a carriage-bolt hole restorer?

[botboy]

I've seen that eastwood makes a special tool for restoring bent up and damaged door lock holes, I'm wondering if anyone makes a similar tool to restore carriage-bolt holes with the square hole? I *could* hammer each one flat and then dremel/weld/grind the holes to fix them but some sort of pressing tool would take me a tenth the time...anyway just curious

 

[diesel4me]

for what???

You mean like the holes in the bed of a truck, that carriage head bolts were used to hold it on...?? I've always welded a thick washer over the hole,with the hole in it filed square to fit...A tapered square punch would work I suppose,if the hole is round and you want to make it square again..

They make punches for electrical outlet and fuse boxes that screw together, and make round or square holes..I think Greenlee is the brand name of the ones my friend uses to punch holes in dashes for gauges and custom stereo installations..maybe thats what you need??....

 

[BadDog]

I've done similar things on truck beds. Patches like the washer mentioned, similar small sections cut from old beds that still had good holes, but most often I just tacked the heads to keep them from turning, and 30 seconds with a grinder will get them loose if you ever need to (assuming the spot/tack weld hasn't already cracked).

 

[rdn2blazer]

im running grade 8 bolts for my blazer body bolts and the ones that go down in the bed area I am machining the head a bit lower and doming the head so it smothes the head out from the normal pointy, high hex head. leave just enough hex to get a socket on it still. you could do this on a grinder to with a bit of care taken to make it look nice. as long as you dont make it too small or thin the bolt strength will still be fine. probably just as much as a regular body bolt anyways. and it looks kinda cool too. sure you have to have a bud or girlfriend help you hold a socket on it when you tighten it from the bottom but is that not what there for.