Can't Screw In Passenger Side mirror

[Tanabi]

Hey there;

So in some trail misadventures I managed to bend the crap out of my passenger side mirror frame.

I took the mirror frame off, no problem, and was actually able to bend the frame back into shape -- the mirror part itself was totally fine. That being said, I ordered a spare just in case for some reason I couldn't get this guy back into form. But it turned out to be pretty easy.

Then, I put it back on the truck. The lower bolt went in totally fine. The upper bolt, however ... there's some kind of inset piece that has the threading, and this piece goes into the side of the windshield frame and is what the bolt screws into. That inset piece just spins in place when I try to bolt the mirror back in place -- I can get a very tiny bit of the bolt in, not enough to the point where I feel comfortable with it, before it starts to spin the inset.

So now I can't secure the mirror. If I could get that inset piece *out*, I have a tool ... can't remember what it's called, but I can use it to crimp in a new piece similar to the one that is in there. But, I can't get the old one out. I'm not sure what to do? I don't want to make it worse and I really don't want to damage anything on the windshield. There's some hacky stuff I could do with epoxy or something to more or less glue that bolt in there which would probably be "good enough" but if there's a "right way" to do this I'd love to hear it? Any thoughts out there?

 

[Action]

That is a nutsert or rivnut or rivet nut. If you want to get it out, use a screwdriver or chisel on the exposed outer flange until you can push it inside the w/s frame. install a new one.
Or try to tighten that one up.

 

[Tanabi]

That is a nutsert or rivnut or rivet nut. If you want to get it out, use a screwdriver or chisel on the exposed outer flange until you can push it inside the w/s frame. install a new one.
Or try to tighten that one up.

I used my rivet nut tool to try and tighten the one that's in there, and I think the threads in the existing nut are screwed up. However, I have replacements I can put in there. I will try to chisel that flange as you suggest, thanks for the tip (and for reminding me of what the tool is called! )

 

[Action]

If you ever take your windshield frame off, you can shake the nutsert out of one of the large openings at the top.