I tried to put on my transmission skid plate today. It turns out both of the nuts on the rear of the front engine skid on the inside of the frame cross rail have sheered off – they are supposed to be welded in place. So when I turn the bolt on the skid plate the nut just spins with it. I am 100% certain that the guys at the oil change place did it – they removed the plate to change the oil filter, I’m sure they used an air gun to put the bolts back on and in doing so they locked them down too tight and broke the weld holding them in place. So now I can’t get my transmission skid plate on!

I need to know how I can fix this. I’m due for an oil change so I’m going to bring it back to the same place and have them get the ski plate off. If they tell me the bolts are stripped I’ll tell them they need to deal with it and get them out. Then I’ll ask them to just take the whole thing off and I’ll deal with the rest on my own.

Can I get a welder to spot weld the nuts back in place? Can you do that while the bolt is still in the nut or will the bolt and the nut fuse together?

If the oil place sucks and can’t get the skid plate off and decides to just do the filter through the hole in the skid plate I’ll need to figure out a way to get the bolts out. I have no idea right now!!!! The one on the driver side I can probably get with a correct size wrench. Does anyone know what size the nut is? Is it a #17?

I have no idea how to get the one on the passenger side b/c it’s further down the frame rail and I can’t reach the bolt at all.

I figure once I have them removed I’m going to have to drill all the way through the frame cross rail and get a longer screw and use a bolt on the other side. Does anyone have any better ideas?

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'04 Liberty Limited - 245/70/16 Firestone Destination AT's, Mopar tow hooks, Draw-Tite Class IV hitch, Skid Row Engine & Transmission Skids, Mopar T-Case & Gas Tank Skids, Extended Breather Tubes, Red Top Optima, Sylvania Silver Star head lights, Hella 500FF bumper mounted driving lights

Cut bolt heads off,air hammer or grinder works well in this area .(sorry couldn't resist being a smart stupid)

OK, I guess I can try the grinder, but how will I get the nuts out of the inside?

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'04 Liberty Limited - 245/70/16 Firestone Destination AT's, Mopar tow hooks, Draw-Tite Class IV hitch, Skid Row Engine & Transmission Skids, Mopar T-Case & Gas Tank Skids, Extended Breather Tubes, Red Top Optima, Sylvania Silver Star head lights, Hella 500FF bumper mounted driving lights

Telescoping magnet.

Yep. I was able to get mineout, then got them back in and got a wrench on them to hold them in place while I tightened the bolts down - I think the next time I need to remove the skids I'll just drill thru the crossmember and use some good ol' grade 8 hardware to replace them.

I also have one of the nuts for the drivers seat that did the same thing, I'm thinking I may need to either see if drilling a small hole and doing a small plug weld will hold the nut in place or if more drastic measures are called for

Do you know what size the nut is? I don't have the right size and I want to be sure I buy the right size.

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'04 Liberty Limited - 245/70/16 Firestone Destination AT's, Mopar tow hooks, Draw-Tite Class IV hitch, Skid Row Engine & Transmission Skids, Mopar T-Case & Gas Tank Skids, Extended Breather Tubes, Red Top Optima, Sylvania Silver Star head lights, Hella 500FF bumper mounted driving lights

If you're looking to do what I did then you should need an 18mm wrench, mine was about 8" long. I used the box end so that the nut wouldn't slip out in the frame piece, but it can take a bit of finagling to get it off the nut once it's tight and get it out of the frame. If you can get the nuts out of the frame then you can figure out what size they are for sure.

Good luck!