Stripped converter bolt

Went to the sand drags last night to do a little testing. Made a couple 5.0 passes on the truck with the cut tires and motor only on the 300' track. Was going to line back up when I started to hear some bad noise under the truck and put it on the trailer. Look at it today and one of the converter bolts loosened up. Tried to tighten it, and it seems to be stripped. So, short of pulling the motor and putting a helicoil in, are there any options I can do for the next 2 weeks to finish my season? I was planning on pulling the motor at the end of the season anyway to freshen the trans and loosen up the converter some, just don't want to pull it now if I don't have to.

can you get to the back side of the converter pad through the starter hole?

I might be able to get my meat hook behind there. You thinking to put a nut behind the stopped bolt for now? Should I do that to all 4 just to keep balance even?

kjett wrote:I might be able to get my meat hook behind there. You thinking to put a nut behind the stopped bolt for now? Should I do that to all 4 just to keep balance even?

I would put a nut on all 4 to keep the flex plate and converter in balance it wouldn't take much in high rpm range to get all the other stuff out of whack with just 1

All right, guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow then

i'd put one on and not worry about it.you may even drill and tap to the next size if you have room.

Ok. I'm already at 7/16 fine thread on the bolts, so just for now I'll get a little longer bolts at put nuts on the back. Thanks for the replies. I didn't even think about the nut on the back today when I was out looking at at. Feeling a little retarded at the moment

kjett wrote:Ok. I'm already at 7/16 fine thread on the bolts, so just for now I'll get a little longer bolts at put nuts on the back. Thanks for the replies. I didn't even think about the nut on the back today when I was out looking at at. Feeling a little retarded at the moment

save that retarded feeling for when you drop the nut in the bellhousing. 

cool40 wrote:

kjett wrote:Ok. I'm already at 7/16 fine thread on the bolts, so just for now I'll get a little longer bolts at put nuts on the back. Thanks for the replies. I didn't even think about the nut on the back today when I was out looking at at. Feeling a little retarded at the moment

save that retarded feeling for when you drop the nut in the bellhousing. 

do that on a 6.7........ then you wanna go kick a ford engineer in the balls...... f'in idiots.

update!  

Pulled the starter to get access behind the flexplate. Come to find that with that 1 bolt stipped, the other 3 started to loosen as well. There was some side to side movement like the holes in the flexpalte started to oval out, but it was the threads on the bolts. Long story short, a quick trip to get new grade 8 bolts, lock washers, and nuts and I begin to put it back together. On the last bolt I remember this: "save that retarded feeling for when you drop the nut in the bellhousing" and guess what? Yep drop the last dang nut down behind the flexplate. Got pissed and left it was was for the night. Was going to go back at it yesterday but since I tried to be slick and leave the truck strapped on the trailer, mother nature decides to let it pour rain all day. Going out today with a magnet on a flexable rod and fish the nut out, should be ready to go with all new hardware and locked down by this afternoon. Looks like this winter will see a new flexplate along with some work to the converter.

And that is that. Went and bought a cheap flexible magnet deal from Advance Auto, fished the nut out in about 2 seconds. It's on, and all are tight. Picked up a cheap open end wrench while I was there, gave it a little love from the hot blue wrench bending it almost into a L shape to get a better bite on the nuts to make sure they were tight. Put the starter back in, fired it up and all is good in the world again. I love getting the funny looks from the neighbors when I fire this thing up.

I would check them again after you run it a bit. I went through the same mess a few months ago. Once they loosened up the holes got egged and wouldn't stay tight after that. New flex plate.

  i have the very same wrench in my tool box! i had a coan converter for a c6 that had a 3 bolt GM pattern for some reason.it had no threads,you put nuts through the starter hole........you know the rest.  

Yeah, wasn't about to bend a decent wrench, so used the cheap $8 wrench from Advance. Best part walking back in a couple hours later with the bent wrench in my hand and told them something was wrong with it. The kid behind the counter looked at me with a "What the heck" look and was actually going to replace it until I told him I did it on purpose. Thought it would be fun to try while I had to go back and pick up some other stuff anyway. Guess he didnt pay attention to the blue mark where I heated it with the torch.  

cool40 wrote:  i have the very same wrench in my tool box! i had a coan converter for a c6 that had a 3 bolt GM pattern for some reason.it had no threads,you put nuts through the starter hole........you know the rest.  

Back when I ran a C-6.....used a 2.5" hole saw. Nice round hole in the very bottom of the bell. Easy to get to a nut or bolt on the backside of the flexplate. Then plugged the hole with rubber plug.

hmm might have to look into that. I definately need to plug it up to keep mud out!