Access to Inside Crossmember

Many moons ago, I installed RCI skids. Today I wanted to remove the tranny one to do the clutch accumulator delete. The bolts holding the rear of the engine skid and front of the tranny one went into what I believed were factory threads in the crossmember, as when I installed, I didn't have to use a nut. Today, when I went to take the bolt out, there was a nut spinning in the crossmember. I think perhaps it was lightly spot welded into the crossmember, but the weld broke or something. Anyway, I can't seem to figure any way to get in there, short of pulling the lower control arm. There is tiny access from the side and offset access from the top, but the problem is that the nut sits down in a depression, so at the angle I have, a box or open end won't get down there and a socket won't go because the top hole is offset. Anyone had to deal with this and how did you get it done? All the time I wasted I could have done the accumulator 4xs.

 

Undo all the others, jam a wedge between skid and crossmember, and hope the nut will rotate under a friction hold. Be prepared to cut the bolt if it doesnt. Retrieve the nut via magnet.

 

1. Cut the bolt.
2. Once the skid is off, holes on the crossmember will be uncovered for you to fish out the broken nut.
3. Drill out the hole for an M8 rivnut.