caverman

Today I removed the trailer hitch that was on the car when I bought it. I had to remove the rear exhaust brackets to get it out and I could not get the one of the bolts on each side to go back on. It's hard to get to the bold because the mufflers and bracket are in the way. Just curious if anyone has ever had issues getting the bolts back in and if there are any known tricks to get them back in?

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

Hard to give input without seeing whats going on. Is there rust? Has it been cross-threaded? If theres any rust, try using some rust remover, or the almighty WD-40 with a wire brush to clean it all out. Then use like a pound of grease to give the bolt some 'ease' as its being threaded back in.

caverman

I agree it's hard to come up with ideas without pictures. I just didn't think to take any while under the car. I was too frustrated and had to throw in the towel for the night. I had spent most of the day installing a stereo, and two door lock actuataors, The trailer hitch was kind of an afterthought to get if off but it shouldn't have been that big of a deal. Three 19mm bolts on each side, two 10mm bolts holding the bumper cover.

It's mostly the way at least one of the bolts is positioned kind of behind the tip of the muffler and then the rubber hangers are in the way as well. No rust at all but when trying to put the bolts back in they just didn't seem to want to catch the threads. I'll probably go back next weekend and try again but the idea maybe some WD-40 or something for help isn't a bad idea.

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

Try swapping the bolts around. I've found that in SOME cases, bolts will only want to go back where they came from for some small slightly misaligned reason. This is something I notice when I swap my winter/summer/traveling wheels which all take a different set of lugnuts. A nut will go in and stop as if its stripped, but will go fine on another stud and visa versa. IIRC, I've had the same problem while doing some suspension work. A bolt that was on the front side of the LBJ won't fit on the back side, but screwed in just fine on the front one

Just some more food for thought.

caverman

Worked on this again yesterday with help of my dad who has about 50 years of mechanic experience. Basically the threads were stripped out and they were probably stripped when they installed the trailer hitch. That's why I could never get the bolts to go in the first place and I'm sure I didn't help out the situation. Went to a local bolt supply house and got some new bolts, then ran a tap to clean up the threads in the holes. Got a good extension with a woable end this time and it all went back together.

Anyone think the trailer hitch is worth selling? I'm sure it's not worth much at all and it is probably only meant for holding something like a bicycle. I wonder if it would bolt up to another car besides a GS.