Removing frozen bolts in bed

[68 GMC Stepside]

Looking for some ideas to remove the bolts in my truck bed. I have soaked with PB blaster, but the bolts spin when I try to remove the nuts. Any way of keeping the bolts from spinning or should I try nut splitters etc. Don't really want to grind the bolt heads and damage the truck bed.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[LooseCannon]

Not sure if you have a welder but welding a hex nut to the top of the bolt works well.

[faribran]

Loose... good idea..

[JORGIE95961]

And on the rest of em just tighten and break off trust me its quicker ..

[darkone]

sawzall was the only way i could manage

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by JORGIE95961

And on the rest of em just tighten and break off trust me its quicker ..

Best way to do it. Overtighten and snap them off. You will be done in minutes as opposed to hours.

[cdowns]

i take my small cutoff wheel and grind the tops off

[Dano69c10]

The easiest way I found to remove frozen bed bolts are with a 4" or 3" cutting wheel.

I crawl underneath and cut vertically through the nut and bolt. Sometimes you only have to cut halfway through and the nut will come off with a wrench or socket. This prevents you from messing up your bed.



If you're good at cutting, you can cut through the nut it will split off the bolt.

[too much stuff]

Originally Posted by JORGIE95961

And on the rest of em just tighten and break off trust me its quicker ..

The only way to go. Its not like you are going to reuse the bolts anyhow...

[Duncan and son]

Originally Posted by JORGIE95961

And on the rest of em just tighten and break off trust me its quicker ..

x2

[68 SHORT-STEP'N]

I had to use a catspaw & a sawzall

[68 GMC Stepside]

Thanks for the posts. Awesome ideas. If I can get the truck to my buddy's, I'll weld. If not, I'll cut. Thanks again. This was a ton of help.

[dan42]

Originally Posted by vectorit

I wouldn't want to be removing frozen bolts in my bed, since all the metal chips and rust gets into all the bed sheets which get itchy on me. So, I typically work on stuff like that in my garage.

Yeah, and the fact that they're frozen makes your bed cold as well!

[eightbanger]

Originally Posted by cdowns

i take my small cutoff wheel and grind the tops off

x2

[68 GMC Stepside]

Originally Posted by Dano69c10

The easiest way I found to remove frozen bed bolts are with a 4" or 3" cutting wheel.

I crawl underneath and cut vertically through the nut and bolt. Sometimes you only have to cut halfway through and the nut will come off with a wrench or socket. This prevents you from messing up your bed.



If you're good at cutting, you can cut through the nut it will split off the bolt.

BTW, I couldn't get to the welder, so I cut like you suggested and it worked beautifully. Only took a few hours and the box was off. Thanks for the tip.