Factory Crossbars - bolt stripped

[Gersie33]

Hey all,
I was trying to take the factory crossbars off of my Baja today. The first 3 bolts came out fine, but the fourth bolt is giving me trouble. The bolt spins all the way around in both directions, but it the threads wont catch and it won't come off. I tried having my friend push on the back of the bolt while I unscrewed it, but it still wouldn't move. It is too far in for me to try to pry it from the head of the bolt. Does anyone have any suggestions to get the bolt out? If it is a lost cause, do you have suggestions for new crossbars? I only need them to mount my Thule bike rack and road bike, so weight isn't much of an issue.
Thanks for any help.

[Trucklett]

I had that problem with one bolt of mine, too. Is the bolt itself spinning, or just the wrench in the head of the bolt. Going up one size on the torx "wrench" got mine out no problem at all. I had to go buy a torx set.

Good luck!

[Gersie33]

The head of the bolt isn't stripped. I think the part of the plastic back plate that the bolt screws into is stripped. The bolt just spins in place in both directions but the threads won't catch anything to force it out.

[millarg]

Had same problem, had to drill heads off of bolts in order to remove cross members from vehicle (be careful not to get the bolts spinning as they will melt the surrounding plastic - ask me how I know!).

Bought "nutserts" from ebay and replacement SS bolts and was able to put everything back together, put sparkplug lube on threads to stop same thing happening again - but I keep mine off, only using when needed.

[Ferroplasm]

Do you see an increase in fuel economy with the crossbars off?

[mattada]

you will pick up 1 - 2 mpg with the bars off on the highway. Anytime im in for a longer trip i'll pop them off.

I too have 2 bolts cross threaded, the issue is indeed the soft brass nuts in the back plate.

Yakima makes a super nice "rail grabber" base for upgrading to roundbars that are flat. I may eventually upgrade to those since the curved bars are pretty flexible as is.

[Trucklett]

I have an 05 Turbo Auto. I have had my crossbars off for about a year. Almost all my driving is crappy city driving. I see less than 1/2 of 1 mpg improvement with crossbars off. That said, my thirsty girl and it will take whatever we can get. And she does look sleeker without them!

[Tonveranga]

Do you still have the crossbars? If so can you send me pics and how much?

[Tonveranga]

What are nutserts? How do you use and what size?