77 trillium bolts under front bench gaucho

[agreco]

Got two bolts on Door side under front bench won't move. The one snapped and other unscrewed. Want to replace as they are worn out. Any ideas on how to remove? I grinded heads off of carriage bolts and still won't budge. They seem to have swelled in there.
Thanks for all answers

[John in Michigan]

Did you try turning the nut under the frame? Did you try grinding off the nut?

I was able to remove most of my Trillium 4500 body to frame bolts by clamping a vise grip wrench tightly to the head (carriage bolt head), and then turning the nut below the frame. Several of them broke in two, lower portion fell out, then I hammered or pushed out the upper portion of the bolt from below using a punch (or long nail?). Three of the eight bolts remain, and I may have to grind off at the top or bottom in order to remove them.

[thrifty bill]

I carefully pried up the bolt's large square washer, using a wide blade drywall taping tool first. They are thin and flexible. Every single one popped up. The other route is to use a punch from the bottom and drive it up.

But I did not grind off any of the carriage bolt heads.

On all of them, the nut on the bottom snapped off. If the nut is still there, and keep turning it. You probably will have to use a punch on the top side to drive it out.

Three out of four of the clips on the frame broke off (small pieces of angle iron).

In the picture below, I show one of the bolts, two of the top side square washers, and two items that look like rotten washers, but are actually pieces of the angle iron tabs.


1977 Trillium Progress by wrk101, on Flickr