Spinnakerblue89 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I'm back after a brief hiatus, working on other things which captivate my mind. There I was in the middle of removing carpet from the truck do that I can repair rust and identify sources of leaks. Getting back to it: In trying to remove the rear plastic molding, I seem to have stumbled upon small black, looks to be plastic, fasteners that hold it to the rear wall just below the window. What are these? Are they hardware that can be easily replaced? Do I break them off and replace them? I can post a picture when I get home. Also, shout out to SMS headliners for making a fine replacement for mine! I'll be posting about that when I'm ready to install later down the road! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvagedcircuit Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Do you mean these: https://www.auveco.com/christmas-trees There are "christmas trees" on the back of the rear plastic trim panel that goes underneath the back cab window. Mine were white though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnakerblue89 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 these look unlike most of not any Christmas tree I've dealt with. Perhaps I should take a picture? Might as well do that the next person who wonders about this can find this topic and know. If you're fairly confident that I have *a form* of a Christmas tree- I mean I wouldn't put it past Chrysler to let them just use whatever they had- I can give it a pry with my tool. I think there are two of them and they are aligned vertically at the back and outer edge of both B pillars, adjacent to one another. Funny to me, I am a quality engineer in the industry and at least on doors, I haven't seen actual Christmas tree in a few years. My customers have adopted bird beaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 They have a modern part number. I forget what it is but I think it’s a 650 number. The old number was a 3420. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnakerblue89 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 Thinking about it, it did seem to resemble the bottom of a push pin, as if it was inserted backwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 These are the fasteners for the rear plastic panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnakerblue89 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 Sorry to say that none of that was the case. I misremembered everything, there were three studs with metal retaining nuts (that's what I've always referred to them). Could've been the lighting, I dunno what. Anyhow, case closed, I got it all off. Now for those inner and outer seatbelt Torx bolts... Guess I better get the big boy toys out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 So you were actually referring to the rear side panels. Glad you got it figured out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnakerblue89 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Yeah I think a PO likely was fooling around with all of it before because a number of hardware bits were missing. While I'm at it: what's a good way to get heat onto those Torx bolts that hold down the seat belt at the B pillar floor? I got the inner ones on the trans tunnel with heat but I'll be damned if I can get these outer ones without cutting something. They're frozen solid, breaker bar does jack, and they're deep inside the seat belt sleeve- not to mention, the drivers side is so rusted that it stripped immediately on impact. Welding a nut onto it is out of the question for me, and the rockers aren't rusted enough that I can apply heat from the other side. Or am I going to need to go straight to drilling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 You can try drilling and extracting but usually if you’re stripping out a Torx bit it’s stuck enough you won’t grab it with much. I very carefully cut one of mine off, then when I had everything flammable out of the way welded a nut onto it and pulled it out that way. The loctite on them from the factory basically dictates heat. You might get them with an impact, but you need to make sure the bolt head is cleaned out very well and the bit is the correct size and sunk all the way in. And you need to be dead nuts straight onto it. Mine didn’t strip out the bolt, but I did break two new 1/2” impact bits before I gave up and cut it off… the guy at the parts store was not thrilled with me when I brought the second one in for warranty a half hour after I picked it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnakerblue89 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 Right, I've decided to take perhaps an unconventional route. The rocker panels are not rusted through to the point I can access the back of the bolt to hear up the nut. However, they are rusty and will need replaced, either with something unique or hopefully a part from Key Parts in the future. So I cut them open to reveal the back of the bolts. I let them soak in Kroil all night and day and tonight when I get home, I'll heat up the nut with a MAP torch and see if I can't get the bolts out that way. Otherwise yeah, I'll have to drill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Wait. Not all Comanches look like this? 😂😅 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 That made me sad.😢 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnakerblue89 Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Not quite yet for mine, and it's strange too, mine came from Michigan....... Speaking of, so did my buddy's Cherokee. In fact, all the Jeeps I've ever looked at have been in Michigan. EDIT: Not true. Two years ago I nearly bit the bullet for a 1978 J10 with a 360 in it. Couldn't justify the 10k price tag though. That was in Toledo. Anywho, all I did was cut out a very very small portion that had pinholes essentially. I mean, I already knew it would have to be removed anyway. Making an omelette requires breaking a few eggs. So looking forward to seeing this floor for the first time. Ugh! My weekend can't come any slower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZJeff Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 How about trying an induction bolt heater to loosen the rust? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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