I hate S.P.O.T. (stupid previous owner tricks)

[AndyG]

Definitely soak em in penetrating oil and try to turn them out from underneath first .

If it went bad I’d drill em

If it went real bad I’d cut old brackets and make a plate with them for the bottom side and squeeze them to the tub using new hardware.

 

[meangreen98]

Buy your vehicles unmolested then do stupid current owner tricks.

 

[05 Blue Unlimited]

very 1st post from the OP:
Previous owner painted bedliner in the back section of my TJ, in the process covering up the holes for the rear seat mounting brackets. No problem, I'll just poke/cut a hole through the bedliner, to reveal the mounting holes? No, because this dude apparently left the bolts installed, and ground down the heads flush with the floor, then covered with the bedliner! What the ... Now I have to somehow remove the bolts, which no longer have a head to turn, and aren't exactly free turning given years of corrosion. I might have to end up cutting the nuts free from under the body, which will be difficult to access. Dang.

I don't understand your point.

 

[Farmergreg]

Is it just me? Every time someone posts here about wanting to bed line the inside, I just cringe!
I passed over lots of molested jeeps until I found what I wanted.

Since you cant look backward (avoid buying):
I vote weld a nut on the bottom and make sure the heads are ground off enough to thread out.

 

[Mike_H]

My first try would be vice grips (real ones, not the fake ones) and Penetrating Spray (Kroil, Liquid Wrench, ATF blend). I have a welder, so my next step would be to weld a nut to it. Without a welder or if the welded nut breaks the bolt, cut the bolt off on the bottom, flush with the "nut", drill and retap the threads.

 

[Hook_62]

Got this TJ last Nov. Cracked exhaust manifold. during the replacement I noticed that the PO had done the same thing or at least had the intake manifold off, when they put intake back on they didn't have the manifold lined up on the pins in the head and tightened the bolts down anyway, can you say "Crack". Must have figured out their mistake at some point, removed it and welded the thing... Here's the best part, they never decked it after welding, just took a grinder to it and then smothered the thing with black RTV trying to get a good seal, which didn't work BTW. they also used the wrong gasket, which had approx. 1/8" of the exhaust manifold blocked. Needless to say when I repaired this I gained like 30 HP. It just begs the question. "If you don't know what your doing, Why the hell are doing it?"

 

[indio]

Is it just me? Every time someone posts here about wanting to bed line the inside, I just cringe!
I passed over lots of molested jeeps until I found what I wanted.

Since you cant look backward (avoid buying):
I vote weld a nut on the bottom and make sure the heads are ground off enough to thread out.

I won't ever buy a Jeep again where someone has painted on bedliner. Don't get me wrong, it can be a great product and stand up to lots of abuse. And in my case the application was done well, looks nice and is solid (other than this bolt issue where PO didn't take enough time to more carefully remove the bolts). But on other Jeeps it can hide stuff, and overall make things more difficult. And yes, next time around I will be looking for the most bone stock TJ driven by a little old lady.

 

[Twopoint]

I won't ever buy a Jeep again where someone has painted on bedliner. Don't get me wrong, it can be a great product and stand up to lots of abuse. And in my case the application was done well, looks nice and is solid (other than this bolt issue where PO didn't take enough time to more carefully remove the bolts). But on other Jeeps it can hide stuff, and overall make things more difficult. And yes, next time around I will be looking for the most bone stock TJ driven by a little old lady.

so...did you get it out?

 

[indio]

so...did you get it out?

Little time today - too much work. I only had time to try vice-grips from underneath. But as expected that didn't budge the bolts. Then I tried threading on a nut, but maybe it is a metric bolt because I couldn't find any nuts in my spare parts box to fit.

Honestly I think those bolts are fused to the captive nuts, hence the reason they all broke in the first place, and then the PO ground down the remains rather than try to remove. Probably by now they are never coming loose. I think a bolt extractor nut is the best bet, but might just end up breaking the bolt from underneath.

I've got to hit Harbour Freight for a few items, and they sell a $20 electric cut-off tool small enough it should allow me to detach those captive nuts. And then I will use four new bolts with regular nuts to replace (will have someone hold the underside nut still while I turn from above to fasten the seats). If it doesn't rain all weekend with any luck I'll have some update to report.

 

[TH99TJ]

Yep I see people get all excited about modified vehicles in general. They give me the heebeegeebies and scare the hell out of me for your exact reason, people do stupid stuff that ends up costing you, the new owner massive time and or money! Give me a stocker and let me do the stupid stuff LOL. if the bolts broke off, OK I get it, if he ground them off,,,! what a tard! especially when a little round sticker stuck to the floor would accomplish the same thing with less effot and noise. Penetrating oil, let soak, heat, penetrating oil, let soak, vice grips would be my attack. Removing the weld nuts would be a last resort. If you can tell where the bolt are from the top, cut away the bed liner to see what your working with.