I stripped one of my bed bolts....help

If you rounded the head with a torx bit and couldn't get it out, then a screw extractor and heat on the bolt still couldn't turn it, do you guys really think that cutting a slot into it and using a flat top screwdriver will remove it?

Weld a nut on the top of the bolt and be done with it. Replace with a new one and chalk it up as a learning experience.

 

best advice yet^^

and if that cant be done id use the dremel method, but since the torx head is bigger than most flat blades i would cut a slot in one side and hammer the end of a big flat blade into it on an angle where it would back out the bolt. or maybe some channel locks on the head and try it that way

 

Grab it with vice grips and turn it out.

 

YOU NEED A NEW TRuCK!

 

x2, i wonder if theres a tsb for this??

 

Drill it!!! Start with small bit and work your way up. Then knock the head off.

 

Take it to the dealer!

 

weld a bolt or a socket and then take the screw out with a ratchet or air gun. $5 dollar cheapo socket will do the trick,

 

Be carefull welding a nut on it.
Not sure how much heat the composite bed can take.

 

x2 on getting a dremel, I didn't really know what I would need one for when I got one, but it has been one of the handiest tools for working on vehicles, those little cutoff wheels have come in real handy many times. I have gotten many a stuck bolt or nut removed when nothing else would work.

 

OK, this may sound crazy, but I've done this before with luck. You'll still need a replacement bolt (duh).

Take an old screwdriver/torx driver that you don't mind damaging (though you should be able to clean it back up fairly easily if you are patient), put a dab of JB Weld or something similar on the damaged bolt and place the head of the screwdriver in place, when the JB Weld (or similar product) sets you should be able to have enough of a grip to wind the bolt (or screw) back out.

Edited to add:

As I've had problems with this in the past I've found the easiest solution is anytime a screw/bolt is giving you trouble spray it with "PB Blaster" and then place a little "Valve Grinding Compound" on the tip of your screwdriver and the job will get a lot easier.

 

Both! but rotary for this particular job

 

Old Thread, New Info.
Stripped mine doing Bedside reinforcement bracket install.
Got them out with pipe wrench
Tougher you pull, more it bites.
worked like a charm.
Trip to the dealership for replacement ones. Corroded to hell

Cheers

 

quoting this to help me remember just in case

 

Well I don't feel like as much of an ass now... Going to try a pipe wrench after I grab replacement bolts.

 

take a chisel hammer it in there and try turning the chisel with vice grips. Make sure to torque that sucker down when you cross thread it on the way back in. Makes for a good security device.

 

Or a small proper sized file to make the slot. Then go with the screwdriver.

 

You put a nut on top of the bolt that has a hole the same size as the top of the stripped bolt,and then weld in the hole with a welder,then you just use a a socket that fits the nut and presto the bolt will come out.

 

You can reach the front one's from underneath, it's a bitch but put a sharp (new) vicegrips on the unthreaded part. Much easier to just tack a 3/4" nut on the top.

 

go to a shop and plug weld a nut on the top of the bolt....