Stripped transfer case crossmember holes

[big4294x4]

Well, I just built a new crossmember for the TJ to mount to the 6 stock holes and after taking the bolts out a few times, they have stripped. New England rust is hell. Anybody have good luck with drilling and tapping the existing holes? Its hard to tell how much material is there stock, and if it is enough to drill and tap to a larger diameter. If you've done it, do you remember how big you went?

My other option is to weld the angle solid on the frame and make the center section of the crossmember removable, but I'd much rather be able to take the whole crossmember off. Welding stuff to the frame at this point is difficult if not unsafe as I dont have 220 in the garage.

[90yj]

Ha ur sort of going to go through hell with this. There isnt much material left in the frame to tap for a bigger bolt. What i had to do was make little plates with nuts welded to them (5/8th's) Then i proceeded to cut my frame open and put the plate inside and use a larger nut to hold the crossmember in. I have wheeled it a few times and beaten the crap out of it,come down on rocks with it and all and it has held up. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish with help from a few people. All that just to do the stupid trans mount.:(

[Mr. 95YJ]

Go to your local Jeep dealer. They will have the actual little pieces that are welded to you frame to basicall form a nut. It is just a little cyclinder type thing that is welded to the frame. Or at least that is how my brothers 92 YJ was set up. Good luck.

[90yj]

well that depends on the condition of your stock cross member. Mine was rotted and rusted away and needed a large washer.

[big4294x4]

Thanks for the replies. I'm really considering just doing through bolts from the verticle side of the frame. May weld tabs onto my angle section to create a U [_] shape around the boxed frame and eliminate the bolts holding it on the underside. I dont really see any problem with this, the bolts will be in shear, and I would sleeve the holes with tubing to support the bolt all the way through. It should be plenty strong enough to support the trans. Three on each side like before, just bolts running horizontal, instead of verticle.

Honestly, this seems alot easier to me than cutting the frame to insert a plate with nut.

[76cj5inprogress]

so i was in my high school parking lot one day in my cj and decided i was gonna show off and pop some wheelies, i put my t-case rear low and put my t-18 into the 6.32 to 1 first gear and gave her hell. the tires lifted a little but not as much as normal, i thought that was wierd and i went to shift into second and noticed my shifter was about 10 inches lower than normal. my tranny and t-case torqued so much it ripped the bolts for my crossmember out of the frame. i towed it home and drilled throught the stock bolt and up through the top of my frame and put a grade 8 bolt and nut all the way through my frame for the crossmember, it worked great, havent had a problem since, dont see why you couldnt do the same.

-colin

[90yj]

lol awesome,wheelies in a jeep. I wish i would have thought about putting bolts all the way through the frame but my way worked quite nicely as is,just has a couple holes in it now,lol

[Jaffer]

Compression through-bolting on an unsleeved hollow frame will tend to loosen.
To do a proper job of it you should tube sleeve the bores of your bolt holes.
Easiest way is to drill both top and bottom of the frame with the bolt's diameter then re-drill the bottom hole for the O.D. of the tube sleeve
Then, if you can, weld the bottom tube wall to your frame so the sleeves won't move out of place during your next X-member drop.

[YJPep]

I used a 7/8" hole saw to cut out the old threaded insert.

Then, welded in a 1/2" flanged nut ( with the hex side stuffed into the 7/8" hole).

I have fixed three of the inserts on my YJ and two on my father-in-law's TJ.

They have held up for almost a year.

[resqme]

Combination of what Jaffer and YJPep did...I used an all thread style nut, so that the threads are 1 1/4" long (plenty there in case some strips out). I welded the nut into a sleeve that was long enough to go all the way through the frame, drilled the frame for it, then welded it top and bottom.

There's a right way and a wrong way to do about everything.

[big4294x4]

Hmm. I've had difficulty welding thick stuff to the frame with our small MIG in the garage. But, if I used a hole saw to bore a whole in the bottom of my frame, and then drilled a hole in the top, inserted the tube like Jaffer said, I could certainly provide a suitable weld to hold the tube in place as it really isn't taking a whole lot of load. The tube in the frame is just taking the compressive force that can cause a frame to compress, allowing the bolt to loosen. Hmm, I will likely go this method.

Also, for welding in nuts. We've come up with a good way of making a nice, well centered nut to insert. By taking two "tall nuts, and a bolt it fits on, and placing the assembly in a lathe, with the "double nut" it is easy to machine a round surface on a portion of the nut. Machine that down to the diameter of the drill used, and whala, a nut that press fits into the hole. It is easy to weld the nut into the hole and have it come out very straight and true. I will be doing this for attaching the skidplate to the crossmember.