Loose nut rant

I've never work on this old a Ford, but I wonder if they understood the concept of captive nuts back in 1965? I just started taking apart the dog box around the engine -- looks easy enough, you can see the nuts holding the box down. Noooo. They are all bolts going down to free-spinning nuts under the floorboard. Wrench required above and below the floor. Up down up down up down. Not easy for a guy who works alone and just had knee surgery. Grrrr. What a Pain in the... knees.

End of rant. Time for a relaxing beverage.....

Its times like these when it sure is nice to have a buddy around...

From the factory there arent nuts on the bolts underneath,just a nutplate type thing called a cage nut. Sometimes those dont hold and you need to hold em with a vise grip. Its always good to have a 2nd person around. I just pulled a couple dog houses myself last weekend so I know what you're going thru but I had a buddy helping e.

Once you get the dog house off you can reach the bottom bolts just fine....
But yeah, more than a few of my friends, who are (were) not car guys that I call for help from time to time, are getting pretty good at it.
I know where your comeing from.
Good luck with your project.

Joel

spot weld?

I will be very tempted to spot weld those suckers when I put it back together. Not something I want to repeat anytime soon....

I've used vice grips in the past. Clamp it tight and try to get it to bind on another part of the body so it doesn't spin.

Get yourself several pairs of vice-grips. Go under the van and grip several of the nuts, then go back up top to loosen them. That might save a little time.

I have two places that I buy them in bulk for all the jobs here. One I bumped into sells them by the lb. The easier one for all of you would be as simple as Mc Master Carr. They come a dozen or so to a bag, and come in three gauge metal sizes. Get the smallest gauge ones. TRICK!!!!!!!!! I use 1/4" thick nasty washers, and run a bolt down through the cage nut before I install the doghouse. Running the bolt down smashes them so that they hold easier. ANOTHER trick is a 5/8 open end wrench with someone underneath holding the square part while someone topside nails it with an impact.
Old Skool,,,,,, back and lurking,,,LOL