Many folks who remove these often (racing folks) put studs in these inserts and use Loctite on them. That way if you don't have the possibility of stripping them out.

These inserts weren't meant to be used often, really only as the car was built. If you aren't careful it's easy to cross thread them if the arms aren't carefully aligned. The OP was lucky that he didn't "spin" the insert and that he only stripped it out. If these get spun in the frame that's even worse.

A set of studs is cheap insurance.

The only thing to be careful with using studs is to make sure you don't get a "shaving" of aluminum on the stud taking the arm off or putting one one. If you aren't careful you can get a sliver of aluminum in the threads and this will cause the nut to gall and ruin the stud (or worse break the stud) but it's still a lot better than putting bolts into and taking them out often.

 

Many of us were under the impression that the NUTSERT was loose and spinning in the frame.

I went back and RE-READ the original post and I believe that he actually stripped out the threads inside the nutsert. In that case, I AGREE that a helicoil would work just fine.

Bill

 

Exactly Bill! The bolt would just spin inside the insert. The insert is still tack welded to the frame. The helicoil retreaded the insert and worked perfectly.

 

I tend to agree. Timesert, TwinSert or KeenSert, any of the above I prefer to helicoils, but he's got it working with a helicoil so all is well I guess.

 

The KeenSerts are probably stronger, but in this application they would've worked. You'd need to drill out more of the nut to make room for the KeenSerts and that would have taken out more material than desire. Helicoil was perfect for this application and are plenty strong.

 

Glad to see you got it fixed.

 

How safe is the integrity of this suspension now with the helicoil?

 

With a quality helicoil it would be stronger than the original material. Basically you would drill out the original threads that was stripped and tap for the helicoil so there is minimal material removed. As long as the welds on the original nut was not compromise then I say the fix is permanent.

 

Bumping up an old thread.

I just went to install one of my upper control arms and one of the bolts does not want to hand tighten like the others.. not sure how this happened when removing. It doesn't appear TOO bad, just wanted to get yalls thoughts. Should I just try chasing with an M10x1.5 tool and hope that cleans it up enough??
thanks for any insight.

 

Pit the next size standard thread bolt in it(if it is metric), drill and tap it. I would put a stud in it If I use that a lot.

 

I'm sorry-When I first read your post, I misread it as being stripped. Yes, I would try chasing with the proper tap first, and use some oil, 3 in 1, or even motor oil. Don't remember the thread size. Maybe M12? You would have to measure the outside diameter of the bolt, then find out the pitch. The dealer would be able to provide bolt thread info, as a last resort. You may even be OK by just running the bolt in and out a few times, with some oil and a short wrench. It may be it is just going to be stiff from now on. Just don't cross thread it. How do the bolt threads look? If all fails, you may have to resort to a helicoil.
A helicoil would then be the best way to fix this. As a tool maker, I've installed hundreds of these in my career. Stripped threads are stronger with a helicoil repair than they were originally, provided there's enough surrounding material left to install one. In fact, AFR heads all come with helicoils in every thread. Had to laugh at an AFR competitor who used to advertise "our heads use no helicoils", which means they aren't as strong as a head WITH helicoils to those of us who really know. All helicoils I've ever used were stainless steel. If your rivet nut is not spinning, a helicoil would be preferred over an actual threaded insert. Why? Because usually a threaded insert needs to have the damaged thread drilled out larger than an actual helicoil, thereby weakening the surrounding metal more than a helicoil. Ask a buddy to borrow a helicoil kit, or get it yourself. A helicoil kit should be available at a good Hardware, or Big Box Store. Use some sort of cutting oil when drilling your damaged threads out for the helicoil tap. 3 in 1 oil, or even motor oil will do in a pinch. A good helicoil kit will have the actual inserts, the correct drill, the tap you'll need, a cranking tool to spin the insert down to the required depth, and a straight punch type piece of metal to break off the drive tang of the helicoil itself. Once you have the hole drilled, use a countersink, or some kind of chamfering tool to cut at least a 1/16" deep "lead", or angle. This is the step where most people screw up their job. If you don't provide a decent lead angle/chamfer for the helicoil start in, you'll be fighting it to get it started. It should come with some basic instructions, and it's really not as difficult to do as this may sound, or as some may say. Just take your time. I don't know the depth of helicoil you'll need, but I'd guess roughly 12mm. Personally, I'd keep the thread the same as original, i.e.-metric. By the way, here's a rule of thumb on metric threads; the pitch of a metric thread, when subtracted from the thread diameter, will equal the tap drill size needed to tap the threads. This formula has nothing to do with your helicoil issue. See below......

Say you have an M10×1.5 thread. Subtracting 1.5 from 10mm=8.5mm tap drill size.
An M8×1.25? 8mm-1.25mm=6.75mm tap drill. Works for almost any metric thread.......
Also, any SAE with a 16 thread per inch pitch can be drilled correctly by subtracting 1/16" from thread diameter. See below......

3/4"×16=3/4"-1/16=11/16, etc......
​​​​​Hope this helps the people who don't know.......