A very nice local dude gave me a rear trunk. It fits well and the holes line up perfectly but there's no nuts on the inside of the fenders on my TJ Sport so .... it's stupid question time: do I have to drill from the other side to make this factory option seat in properly... or is my Jeep missing some internal nuts inside the rear fenders? To be clear, there's nothing to screw into and the fenders do not appear to have any points of entry from the wheels...inward.
Hi
@rol1964. I installed one of these about a month back and sourced all of my hardware from ACE. I used four M6 nutserts and four M6x20mm (maybe 15mm?) flanged bolts with a 1.00 pitch. The instatrunk originally came with thumb screws instead of bolts, but mine didn't have any with it and ACE did not have any in that size. I used the flanged bolts to eliminate the need for washers.
The nutserts go into the hexagon holes behind the carpet on each side. There should be grommets there. Remove them and push the nutserts in their place. It's a tight squeeze so you'll have to use a little force. I think I used a rubber mallet.
The nutserts are designed to expand on the inside and crimp against the sheet metal and the outer nutsert flange. You'll need to make a "tool" to set it. I would get an M6x30mm bolt and a couple of nuts in at
least grade 8 to set the nutserts. If use use a cheap grade bolt, you'll most likely snap it with the force it's receiving.
Here's a video explaining how nutserts work and how to set them without the official tool:
I used a socket on the bolt instead of a second wrench. This allows you to put equal force on the bolt and keep the nutsert straight in the hole. If the nutsert tilts to one side, it won't set properly. You don't have to go crazy with them though. You're not holding on a skid plate or rocker guards.
Once your nutserts are set, you need to cut open a space for the bolts to pass through the carpet and into the nutserts. I believe the factory just cut little slits in the carpet. In hindsight I probably should have done this, but instead I used a soldering iron to "melt" through the carpet and seal the edges of the hole to prevent fraying.
Before the iron was hot, I felt around until I found the nutsert under the carpet, and poked tiny holes for reference.
Once my holes were poked, I heated up the iron and burned my bigger holes in. This melted the edge of the holes together to prevent potential fraying.
Once I had my holes burned in, I lined up the trunk and installed my flanged M6x20mm (maybe 15mm?) bolts.
Good luck! Finished project: