There's not much room for the dremel to get in there, that is without destroying the strut bar in the process. If all else fails, i'm trying the drill/chisel method and sacrifice the nut.

Right now, there's no room to wedge anything, but there have been some suggestions here on how to do that, so i'll be giving it a try. Good idea on the jb weld/nut stacking, too. Glad to have some more options.

^^^ Well that puts a kink. I don't have a replacement upper seat (with the built-in studs), so if i manage to remove the nut today, i wouldn't feel safe driving the car with just two nuts holding that strut for the next few days until i find a replacement.

Granted, i have been driving around with the same thing, albeit with the 3rd nut not torqued down since it just spins.

Since we're talking about the top portion of the studs, once the bar is removed, without replacing the mount, couldn't i just force a new nut down so it re-engages onto the good part of the stud/threads? Then torque it down?

p.s. BB, thanks for the offer, we truly are quite far away from each other. I realized that last time i stopped by your house, too. lol! If it's any consolation, i'm 10 minutes closer to you than Mike D.

Thanks again, guys!

 

If you cant tighten it, then the stud threads, inside the nut where you cant see it, are stripped.
You most likely strip the rest of the stud getting it out.

Plan on having a new plate when you remove the nut.

A junkyard strut would probably be cheaper than a new plate, you can salvage the plate, and throw out the rest.

 

Hmm... here's what i'm thinking. Once that strut bar is removed, i feel like there's plenty of thread to tighten the nut back down to, it's getting it through the topmost stripped section that i'm wondering about... can i force the nut through it until the nut reaches good thread?

If that's a no go, i'm going to find a new top plate altogether and just replace it since it's likely i'm going to have to remove the whole strut assembly from the car once those nuts are off, it seems. :\

It doesn't look like anything moved in the few days i've driven with it, so i'm hoping the remaining nuts that's holding the strut assembly in place aren't too stressed (or won't be until i can fix this altogether.)

 

Mike the last time I bought an upper strut mount on a Nissan it was only $30-40 or so as I remember. Don't jack that up with a half azz repair job. Just buy another one and replace it. And don't over tighten the nuts when installing it.

 

Ok, i'm just trying to find a good temporary solution to keep the car safe while i drive it to/fro work until the part comes in. I've found a used one at a junkyard, as well as a new one (just the mount), they both come out the same price... about $70 + s/h.

Right now, only two of three nuts are holding that passenger side strut assembly in place. I don't think those nuts/studs are load bearing, and they won't fall off readily, but i'd feel safer if all three nuts are engaged and torqued down properly especially considering all the beautiful potholes this city has.

 

Are there enough threads to install another nut on top of the stripped nut??


BB

$65 for an upper plate at orderinfinitiparts.com