What I'm asking about applies to garden tractors with removeable side panels around the engine area.
For those not too familiar with the situation, my panels are held in place with bolts passed through holes at the corners of the panels, into threaded anchor holes in the frame.
What's happened is that, over time, some of the anchor threads gotten degraded so that the previous owner(s) have drilled and threaded to the next larger size. This isn't too bad, but does result in a mixed bag of bolt sizes. And yes, I could simply drill and thread the remaining smaller ones to the next larger size so I would have all the retainers the same size.
Drilling out the threads and using nuts on the backside of the frame anchor points isn't really a solution, as some of the areas are not easily accessible for holding a backup and even getting a nut on.
I'd like to put some kind of fastening scheme in place which would enable me to quickly remove and install the panels.
One thing I though about is drilling the anchor threads out, putting bolts through from the back side, running outside nuts down tight on them, putting the panels on over the threaded "studs" sticking out, and putting wing nuts on the secure them.
Just wondered if others have been down this path, and what you did to solve the problem. Are there any kind of quick release type fasteners which are readily adaptable to solve this problem?
For those not too familiar with the situation, my panels are held in place with bolts passed through holes at the corners of the panels, into threaded anchor holes in the frame.
What's happened is that, over time, some of the anchor threads gotten degraded so that the previous owner(s) have drilled and threaded to the next larger size. This isn't too bad, but does result in a mixed bag of bolt sizes. And yes, I could simply drill and thread the remaining smaller ones to the next larger size so I would have all the retainers the same size.
Drilling out the threads and using nuts on the backside of the frame anchor points isn't really a solution, as some of the areas are not easily accessible for holding a backup and even getting a nut on.
I'd like to put some kind of fastening scheme in place which would enable me to quickly remove and install the panels.
One thing I though about is drilling the anchor threads out, putting bolts through from the back side, running outside nuts down tight on them, putting the panels on over the threaded "studs" sticking out, and putting wing nuts on the secure them.
Just wondered if others have been down this path, and what you did to solve the problem. Are there any kind of quick release type fasteners which are readily adaptable to solve this problem?
