trailing arm bolt holes 73

[scotty73]

i had to cut the old bolt heads off and grind the stems down enough so that the trailing arms were loose enough to slide out of the frame, i believe the bolts are 7/16 inch
but the holes in the frame are 1/2 inch, they appear to be washed out and sort of egg shaped, my question is shouldn't the holes be closer to the 7/16 bolt diameter to properly align the rear end? I was thinking on welding a 7/16 flat washers on the frame to stop the bolt from moving around or are they suppose to be larger , any opinions would be great,
Scotty

 

[Jcpstrat]

Scotty ... if the above pic (found on Internet), shows the hole you're talking about I believe your right about the bolts being 7/16" and also that the holes in frame should be round. When I did the body off reconditioning of my '67 I don't remember any play around the frame holes for those bolts to go thru. I can't see why welding a 7/16" washer on wouldn't work as long as you don't use really thick washer but I would suspect they better be hardened. The bolts were used from '63 thru '82. Are the holes egg shaped on both the bolt head side and the nut side? Good luck and let us know how it turns out. John

 

[scotty73]

thanks John, i am going to weld a flat washer to the frame, will post a before and after pics
Scotty