Front Skid Plate

[RealDealNamowicz]

I was changing all of the fluids (tranny, t-case, oil, front and rear diffs) in my new 93 Pathy SE-V6 5speed at work last week (Jiffy Lube) and upon removing the front skid plate, 6 or 7 of the bolt heads snapped off. Now I am going to be going hunting in upstate NY after I get off of college for turkey day, and I would very much like to have this skid plate in place. Now, I have drilled out the front bolts, but I could not find enough ground clearance to drill out the lower bolts. Any ideas on this? And there seems to be residual material left from the bolts I drilled out, should I just go with a bigger bolt and jsut throw it in there and call it a day? I believe the bolt heads were 10mm, but does anyone know the actual size of the bolts? (Length mm etc.) thanks guys.

[denisb]

I had the same problem and replaced the existing bolts with aluminum siding self tap screws, they're rust resistant and drill their own hole. Just make sure you buy them a tad bigger than the bolts originally in there (use the one bolt that didn't break to measure) and I would recomend pre drilling with a smaller size drill to facilitate the task. The ones I used were about 3/4" long with a 3/8" head I beleive.

[MatterHorn]

I used some self tapping deck screws that they use on flatbed trailers ... kind of the same thing ... only they are steel ...

[RealDealNamowicz]

Awesome thanks for the fast reply guys, I'm gonna go out and pick some up as soon as I can!

[Precise1]

I just happened to have my skid plate off right now so I went out and checked. This is a off a '95XE FYI. There are 6 M6x1.0 by 15mm long bolts that hold it on. Depending on how you drilled the holes out and as you said there is still some bolt remnants in the holes, the threads may be fine. Personally, being a machinist, I would try to remove the rest of the bolt (at least enough to get a tap started) and chase the existing threads. If not, you need a bolt with root thread diameter of over .24". That pretty much leaves you with 5/16-18 as the next size although depending on the thickness of the material, you may want to go with 5/16-24. I'm assuming you'll use standard as it is more readily available, otherwise M8x1.25 is the answer. While self tappers work, they usually make nasty threads that may bugger up or strip out if you remove the skid plate often. I suggest doing a proper drill and tap for what ever size you go with. As for getting at the lower bolts, well, jack it up or use a pit. Hope this helped, let me know if there is anything else.

 

Bernard

[br2an]

I had the same problem with my 93 two years ago when it was "new". I drilled and tapped for a 5/16" course thread and used stainless steel bolts (1/2 - 3/4" long). They never rust and you can buy them at almost any hardware store.

 

Brian