D nuts

[fairwayjc]

Whats the best way to replace Dnuts? Drill them out? Grind them off?

 

[ford1]

you cant really drill them out, if you do you will ruin the D shaped hole they fit in, i grind the back off if i have to replace any

 

[gunmetal blue]

grind them off is the best way for me. alot would depend on where there are located

 

[fairwayjc]

The ones I'm concerned about are the ones on top of the firewall that hold the cowl/gas tank.

 

[mot]

since you already have the gas tank out ,its an easy job
take a dremel tool with a cut off wheel and carefully grind off the peened over area of the nut
it will fall out the bottom
then buy the new D nuts from Brattons or any other good dealer
install it from the bottom,holding it in place with a large hammer,body tool or some other metal backing
then using a ball peen hammer just tap the upper edge over to seat it in place
really simple job
tom

 

[mot]

I reread your post and it sounds like you broke the screws of in the D nut
thats so easy to fix
heres how i did it
make sure the top of the screw is clean ,
heat it red hot with your torch
using a vice grips grab the BOTTOM of the screw and untwist it from the bottom
dont try to unscrew it from the top as the bottom of the threads may be rusted bad,like this one
take your time ,it may take several heat cycles to free the rusted threads
BUT if push comes to shove, use a dremel with a cut off wheel and cut a slot in the top ,and then heat it and try to unscrew it like a regular screw
or if the threads on the bottom are really rusty, screw it IN with a small screwdriver
Ive had 100% success doing it this way
After you are set up it should only take about one minute to unscrew each broken screw
tom