If your transmission skid plate bolts break, then what?

[OldJoe28]

Narrowing down my, " Last Jeep Project List" , and got to wondering.......
" if I want to drop trans and do work on it, what is BEST way to repair broken skid plate bolts that go up in the frame"?
( One candidate is solid, but, auto trans may not be healthy, another is in pieces and all 3 skid plate bolts are broken on the one side).
My last project, '89 YJ, 4 bolts came out, threads were there, but not really the best, but, 2 were broke off flush with frame by P.O..
Chances of me drilling and re tapping the frame nut are about the same as me winning the lottery!
I thought about drilling up through frame and putting a long bolt/ nut, but, I don't have that long of a drill!
"L" bracket bolted to skid plate and drill a hole through the frame, but, that may not work.....
What are your best ," fixes" for this issue???
Seems that part of the frame is where all H2O and muck settles and rusts bolts.
Thanks!
Joe
I'm trying to get all the issues solved before I dive in this project!

 

[Stoopid Jeep]

Center punch the broken bolt. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
Drill as straight as possible and as centered as possible with (about) an ⅛" drill bit, at least ½" into the busted bolt.

Once your pilot hole is drilled, use a propane , or map gas torch to heat the broken stud.
Once it's glowing a dull read, start squirting penerating oil on it. PB blaster, wd40, atf, doesn't really matter.
The oil will probably smoke at first, that's OK. Squirt a little and watch it smoke, squirt a little more and watch it smoke, repeat until it stops smoking. Squirter it a few more times, just for good measure.

Let it cool down to room temperature (this is a good opertunity to repeat the process on the rest of the broken bolts.

Next you need an easy out kit with a Left handed drill bit (probably ¼"ish)
Use the LH drill bit to follow the pilot hole. If you're lucky, the broken bolt will come out with the drill bit.... if not, move to the extraction bit. Use a wrench to twist it into the hole. Apply gentle firm pressure on the wrench and tap the back of the extraction bit with a hammer.
If it doesn't budge, turn a little harder and tap a little harder.
If it still doesn't budge, go back to the heat/penetrating oil and repeat.
...if that still doesn't work, you might need to move to the next size larger ez out. Repeat all the steps.

I was a boat mechanic for 7 years. I have extracted A LOT of broken bolts. This will almost certainly work. You can do this.

 

[Flyer58]

How does the bottom of the frame look around each bolt hole? Mine was rusted and thin from the inside around each bolt. The sides and top of the frame tube was still very good so I bought a channel shaped repair kit and welded it in.

Others cut out a 2x3inch section around each bolt and make a patch with a nut welded in place.

Others drill a very small hole in the side of the frame, next to the bolt, so you can spray oil inside on the bolt threads.

 

[dieselearl]

drill out and put in nut sets/very easy

 

[Flyer58]

drill out and put in nut sets/very easy

I forgot about that. That's what I was originally going to do but when I got the pan removed I found I didn't have enough steel to attach some of them. Two where really badly rusted and the others were mostly ok. I had to cut out all the rust.

 

[Neil_K B724]

I battled the same thing this weekend for a snapped off bolt I wanted to fix for the rear left side position. Either my dad or the mechanic he took it to did a repair to the front left bolt so I just copied it. I found this thread doing a search for “frame” because I was concerned about how bad the rust is on mine. I pulled off a bump stop easier than plucking an apple from a tree.
Anyway, I used a 1/2 X 1 1/2 inch carriage bolt, a 1 inch wide piece of 1/8” thick bar stock 3 inches long, drilled a half inch hole and squared it with a square file. After that and because I was using the same path for the parking brake cable, I threaded some safety wire down the frame and then put the bar stock on the wire followed up with wrapping the safety wire around the carriage bolt threads. Carefully inserted the bar stock and then bolt into the frame and pulled the wire through the hole I was working on. Then after thinking about it some more today, decided to drop by the hardware store to pickup a couple of fender washers and retaining washers so that I wouldn’t push the bolts back up into the frame while trying to reinstall the skid plate. The pictures are kind of after the fact because I made the repair after I read the thread, except for the retainers.
What I drilled and dug out looks like what used to be some sort of rivet nut.

 

[machoheadgames]

The best fix is new nutserts from Black Magic Brakes.