Fender flare bolts with spinning nut-serts...

jthompsn · 04-22-2008, 07:17 AM

I am trying to remove a few fender flare bolts but several of them (the rear mostly) just spin and have no access to grab hold of the nutsert on back. What else can I do to get these off? I'm becomming a spinning nut-sert myself!!! Lets try to keep it to actual tips, I'm not about to use a sawzall or anything like that.

simpsonsdotcom · 04-22-2008, 07:38 AM

i used an angle grinder to cut the head off and popped it out the back

thejafe · 04-22-2008, 07:47 AM

Have you removed the rear fender liner? You HAVE TO do that to access most of the rubber blocks that need to get removed.

For the ones that use nutserts try jamming a screw driver between the washer and the flare. Pry towards yourself while attempting to turn the bolt head.

custom97 · 04-22-2008, 07:52 AM

I feel your pain on those nutserts! I have a 2000 TJ with the same issue. I think the only way to get them out is to cut the heads of the bolts of to remove the flares, and then deal with the spinning issue. I could get to some of them from the back to hold them still, but many of them are almost impossible to get a good grip on to loosen the bolt. Time for some grinding!

jthompsn · 04-22-2008, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejafe

Have you removed the rear fender liner? You HAVE TO do that to access most of the rubber blocks that need to get removed.

For the ones that use nutserts try jamming a screw driver between the washer and the flare. Pry towards yourself while attempting to turn the bolt head.

Yeah, the first bolt on the drivers side rear you still can get to from the fender liner. Putting on my a to z rockers today, just doing the prep work.

thejafe · 04-22-2008, 08:34 AM

Alright, option number two is to pry the crap out of that washer until you pop the nutsert out of the tub. You'll have to replace the nutsert with a rubber well-nut, like the one below. That's exactly what I did when I removed my stock flares and replaced them with Rubicon flares:

1CleanTJ · 04-22-2008, 09:07 AM

nutserts are such a pain, I ended up cutting half of mine out with a hacksaw blade and then just using normal bolt and washers to put the other flares back on

Chuckwsu_82 · 04-22-2008, 09:14 AM

I just took mine of and once I got one of the bottoms ones off I had someone try and pull on the flare while I tried to unscrew the bolts. It seemed to give the bolt just enough traction for it to come out of the nutsert. This work and they all went back on as well.

bigj1974 · 04-22-2008, 10:42 AM

I just held the nutsert by my fingers, and used a box wrench to get the bolts out. i couldn't get vise grips to get a hold or anything like that.

once i figured put HOW to get everything out, it took 30 minutes to get them all, mostly because the fronts are hard to get to with big hands... :-)

custom97 · 04-22-2008, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejafe

Alright, option number two is to pry the crap out of that washer until you pop the nutsert out of the tub. You'll have to replace the nutsert with a rubber well-nut, like the one below. That's exactly what I did when I removed my stock flares and replaced them with Rubicon flares:

thejafe, where is a good place to get those rubber well nuts. Thanks

thejafe · 04-22-2008, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by custom97

thejafe, where is a good place to get those rubber well nuts. Thanks

My local hardware store has 'em and most of the nearby hardware stores have 'em too. Those things saved my *** with the fender flares. Works great

.

Only use 'em on the holes that you popped the nutserts out of. You may have to dremel or file the hole a tad wider for the nutserts to fit. Ya want 'em snug though.

jthompsn · 04-23-2008, 08:05 AM

Well, I got off the bolts I need to remove, thankfully it wasn't all of them. Thanks for all the suggestions!

eprovenzano · 04-23-2008, 08:28 AM

i just used a wrench and locked it on the other side and unscrewed the bolts, very easy.

FifteenCents · 04-23-2008, 09:09 AM

Sorry I'm a little late. but Loctite will help.

I used my drimmel to take the head of the bolt off, removed the flare.
The used a pair of pliers to pull on the bolt shaft to pull the nutsert out
as much as I could. The squeezed the loctite into the gap. Gave the
nutsert a turn to get the loctite all the way around and let it set up. Sprayed
a little "3 in 1" on it, then removed the bolt shaft with the pliers

The nutsert is still there and works fine.

04-22-2008, 07:38 AM	#2
simpsonsdotcom Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Rome, NY Posts: 52 Profile Gallery Classifieds My Jeeps	i used an angle grinder to cut the head off and popped it out the back