Re-tapping receiver plate inside door jamb

[First Gen Z]

I couldn't agree more. E your posts are very thoughtful. There is one more possible fix. There is a solid insert, not the wire type like heli-coil, that's made by Pioneer. It uses standard taps and drills and comes with a locking medium applied to it. I don't know how thick the plate is but it might be worth a try.

[BadDog]

I concur, Enrique is a HUGE help to everyone here. This isn't the first time he's given me terrific insight into an issue, and it probably won't be the last

BTW Mike the silicone sealant idea sounds like a good twist on Enrique's method for this particular application. All that's required is to hold the nut in place duringadjustment etc and not crack loose from repeated door closings. Oh wait, it probably wouldn't hold up to the torque of tightening and loosening the bolts during adjustment though... hmmm

And I've seen "solid" thread repair inserts too, but only on the web. I'll try E's JB Weld solution first before I try any thread repair on the backing plate.

[Zedrally]

snip,,

BTW Mike the silicone sealant idea sounds like a good twist on Enrique's method for this particular application. All that's required is to hold the nut in place duringadjustment etc and not crack loose from repeated door closings. Oh wait, it probably wouldn't hold up to the torque of tightening and loosening the bolts during adjustment though... hmmm

Just to clarify, the Silicone is used on the captive nut, not as a thread.

It has that little bit of give, rather than a snap...

MOM

[EScanlon]

...snip...BTW Mike the silicone sealant idea sounds like a good twist on Enrique's method for this particular application. All that's required is to hold the nut in place during adjustment etc and not crack loose from repeated door closings. Oh wait, it probably wouldn't hold up to the torque of tightening and loosening the bolts during adjustment though... hmmm

And I've seen "solid" thread repair inserts too, but only on the web. I'll try E's JB Weld solution first before I try any thread repair on the backing plate.

emphasis mine.

You hit it on the head with the two bolded items.

Thanks for all the comments, they are received at a very appropriate time. If any of my rambling helps one of you, to avoid a problem which I've had the "joy" of experiencing, then I'll have been paid in full.

When I was first working with this problem on that Thunderbird (the one with the 2 man mirror instalation), I tried silicone and another harder setting substance. Neither one seemed to do the trick and in turn was a real pain to clean up for the next attempt (Hardened Silicone makes it darn near impossible for anything else to stick and stay). It wasn't till I came up with JBW and I had ground off the silicone that it worked.

Remember, I was trying to figure out how to get the nut held in place while I screwed the mirror mount onto the door. Once I had the nut on the screw I could slowly tighten it into position, mount the mirror onto the base, check alignment and if necessary de-mount it and adjust the mount's location. The main trick is to NOT wrench real hard too quick, or you run the risk of having it break loose. But since that's what caused it to strip, in the first place, I know you'll be careful.

However when you're adjusting doors, from my experience, you adjust and tighten bolts to where the latch plate is snug, you operate the door and you repeat until you have it working well. Then you tighten. Tightening to full specs EVERY time you adjust, is not only a strain on YOU but also likely to cause you to strip whatever metal you have left. The JBW is to provide you with a way of keeping the nut on the plate so you don't have to reach back there and hold it with a wrench, but it is no replacement for metal.

I've used silicone to hold nuts captive in another completely different application but I've not had luck using it where you'll be applying more than just a few pounds of torque. Sadly, in this situation unless you use a star lock washer nut on the back side, and it had begun to "bite" into the metal , I don't know that it would stay put for you to tighen securely.

FWIW

E¢

[Zedrally]

OK, I'll conceed, now can anyone advise me where I can purchase JB Weld in Australia?

MOM

[montoya_fan01]

In the US it's available almost everywhere, hopefully you guys in OZ can find it easily too. It's really handy stuff for a variety of uses.

[Fun_in_my_z]

One of us yanks can always send you some

[Zedrally]

Wonderful,

Send to

PO Box 2254

Oakleigh 3166

Australia

I'll send you back a jar of Vegemite!

MOM

[MikeW]

OK, I'll conceed, now can anyone advise me where I can purchase JB Weld in Australia?

MOM

It seems that you're not the first to ask this question. A google search for

JB Weld Australia

turned up a bunch of hits. One of them mentioned this:

"I have found that Australia wide at any Kmart that has a paint section, you can buy JB weld for just $16."

[BadDog]

Well this weekend I finally had the chance to tackle this.

I had a hard time finding a decent nut (no bad puns please ) at the hardware store to go with a close-to-correct screw. SO, for each nut, I ended up getting 2 different-sized washers and JB-welded the nut to a small washer to a bigger washer so I'd have enough surface area to JB Weld each assembly to the backing plate. I made these up last weekend and let them harden all week (JB is supposed to cure 16 hours for maximum strength).

I went out yesterday AM and found a couple lengths of old speaker wire kicking around in my garage. I used some that had a diameter of ~ 1/3 the inner diameter of the nut. I fed the wire through the door jamb, the backingplate,then out a factory cutout. Then I tied a knot in the wire behind the nut, and applied some JB Weld that I had mixed up about 15 minutes before-hand so it was nice and tacky. I snaked the nut up throught the factory cutout and it went right into place on the first try. Using speaker wire let me pull it up nice and snug. A little JB weld squished into the threads of the nut but I was able to clean it out with a q-tip. I then repeated the process for the inner nut, this time with no mess. I was originally going to clamp the wire in place to hold the nut firmly against the plate, but couldn't do so without some sideways forces in play. Once I was sure each nut was secure and centered, I left it alone for half a day, then put a small heater nearby to heat it up a little for a few hours.

This morning I checked it out and everything still looked OK. I took out the wires, and tries it all out. I adjusted the striker plate, and it took the screws AOK. I closed the door, had a huge gap and re-adjusted. Door was a little recessed. 3rd adjustment was AOK and the JB'd nuts still held. Guess I'll see this spring and summer if it lasts! Hopefully it does, but if not my next step is not to cut a bigger access hole just yet: I'll take the opposite tack of this first attempt, and JB-Weld some screws from the back of the plate, and use a couple nuts on the striker plate. I figure there will be JB on the head of the screw, plus some JB on the first couple of threads to hold the screw in place. But time will tell

-Ken P.

[a7dz]

I adjusted the striker plate, and it took the screws AOK. I closed the door, had a huge gap and re-adjusted. Door was a little recessed. 3rd adjustment was AOK and the JB'd nuts still held. Guess I'll see this spring and summer if it lasts!

Now that you have the door adjusted. Reach into the hole and touch the bolt. Is it long enough to install another nut. If not you might want to change the bolt's one at a time to a longer length. So you can lock the bolt in place with the second nut. The down side of using JB weld in this method is it is brittle and fractures under vibration. By, lock nutting the bolt in place you will lower the amount of vibration and stress on the JB Weld. Snug the bolt up until its tight and then put the second nut on tighten the second nut holding the bolt head. You do not want to fracture the JB Weld. This is one method we use to secure bolts on air plane landing gear.

FWIW

[BadDog]

Thanks for the tip Jim, but since the access hole next to the plate is ~1" and the plate's little bracket that keeps it from falling out of place is in the way, I can barely get a fingertip on either nut, let alone thread another nut onto the screw This is all good info in case I ever do need to cut a bigger access hole though

-Ken P.