On my front eye bracket for my leaf springs, the 3 bolts to remove the bracket just spin. I understand there are little clips on the top side of the bracket and they broke. They are just spinning with the bolt. Has anyone run into this. I'm guessing I have to cut the bolts unless there is a trick someone knows.

Your close, there was a post a while back on this but I doubt I could find it. I have the same problem I've yet to correct. It was suggested by some others to cut the bolt off. Then fish out the old slip nuts and replace them with new ones. There are some guy's on here that have already been there done that. We should hear something from them. It seems this is an inherant problem with these.

------------------
Steve
67 SS 396,4-sp
67 RS 327,4-sp
72 RS 350/350
69 4X4 suburban 350,4-sp
73 3/4 ton 454/400
http://www.geocities.com/stevocamaro

Brings back old memories. Several of the cage nuts can be reached through holes in the frame. You will have to grind, bend, tweak the wrench to get it on the nut. That's the beauty of el-cheapo wrenches. Several of the bolts you may have to grind the head of the bolt off. Not fun, but it is the best way. Be sure to use penetrating oil on the nuts to make removal easier.

------------------
Click here to see see my car and hear 5-speeds. http://www.geocities.com/casanoc

I also had the same thing happen to me. Some people might not like what I did but it's been working fine ever since. I just got out the old bolts, I thing I used a torch, jacked up the car by the rearend so the holes lined up and then drilled all the way through the floor board. Then I made a steel plate on top of the floar board and drilled holes in the same location as the spring perch. Ran some grade 8 bolt through and impacted them down, worked for me, and it's right under the seat so you'll never see it.

------------------
68 468 700R4, and here it is;
mutert23 (http://home.earthlink.net/~mutert23/)

I just got done putting new springs in a couple of weeks ago. i didnt want to use the torch because the interior is fairly new. I have heard of people catching their interior on fire. If there is no interior in the car it would be fine. i used a carbide burring tool on a air grinder. that way you have no sparks or heat like you get with grinding or torching. Every one has their own way of doing things,this seemed to work out best for me.

this happened to me about 10 years ago, after I broke the bolts off and fished the old clips out I couldn't find any replacement clips so I took one of the good clips to a welding shop and had them make me 6 new clips they are still in the car so far so good.

I DON"T RECOMMEND THIS, but a previos owner of my car, when faced with this problem, used a drill and a chisel to access the nuts through the floor under the backseat. Ugly, but effective, I guess. A holesaw and some round plugs would have been a little neater.

i just had this problem last weekend.i located the bolt from the top,after taking out the rear seat.drilled a big hole with a hole saw,held the clip with pliers,removed the bolts.then i made a plates to cover the hole and sealed it up.i thought about welding them up but i didn't want to burn the interor,i like the idea about rubber plugs posted above.i wish i would have thought of that!

BTW,when I did mine I ordered 6 new replacement clips from D&R.Pure junk!I got about 10 ft.lbs. of torque on them and they snapped,every one of them.

------------------
67 RS RAGTOP # matching,
4X4 CHEVY TRUCK

67 drake, if the clips you got broke what did you do to correct the problem. I was going to order the clips from classic industries

I went through this 2 months ago after replacing my leaf springs. What I noticed is that the factory clips actually have nuts welded into the clips. All of the after market clips I have seen are are threaded flat stock cheap metal. If you attempt to tighten the bolts down too tight, they strip. I know, I had to replace 2 after replacing the initial 6. If anyone finds a source for the factory style clips, let me know. I'd like to replace the aftermarket ones I had to use.

I'd like to find some too!I re-used a couple of my old ones that were still functional,for the rest I was forced to fish a bolt with a lockwasher on it into the frame and drop it down through the hole,then I put a nut on when installing the spring.This was not easy,a PIA for sure, but I couldn't figure out another way to do it.I also spun the nut on with short bursts from my impact wrench untill the lock washer grabbed.Useing hand tools would make this even that much harder to do.

------------------
67 RS RAGTOP # matching,
4X4 CHEVY TRUCK

[This message has been edited by 67drake (edited 05-22-2000).]

Guys, I took one to a welding shop that had a metalbrake he bent the metal then welded nut on the metal it fit and worked great been on 10 years now I'am not a expert on this but I don't think the metal strip has to be very thick its just to hold the nut from turning I know the old ones were not that thick but I havn't seen the aftermarket ones!

Just a couple of thoughts on this, Has any body gone to a spring shop to source the clips, when these cars were common the clips with nuts were a dime a dozen, I am sure there still might be some around, as far as taking them off a torch is the best bet and new bolts and clips.
We use to fish new bolts into blind holes when installing trailer hitches and this could work in the case of the spring hanger bolt, take a fine wire and thread it around the threads of a bolt, fish the wire and bolt through the hole in the frame where the clip sits, you might have to open it up a small bit to get the bolt head through, and drop the bolt down through the hole, do this for all three holes, line up the spring hanger and spring over the bolts, using lock washers, and new nuts, tighten with an impact gun, the momentum of the impact will tighten the nuts with out spinning the bolts. It may not be perfect for Concours guys, but works for the driving guys.

I also had the same problem, all six of the bolts spun loose. I cut the heads of the bolts off with a torch since the car had already been stripped of interior, and fished out the old nuts through the holes. The replacement clips from NPD were exactly the same as the originals, true nuts with spring steel clips. Not mild steel like any fabbed nut would be. The nuts cam with correct bolts and as I can remember were less than $10 for the whole set.