The paint is flaking on a couple of the mounting brackets for the step bars on my 2009 SC.

These are the tubular step bars, two plastic (slippery) step pads on each side.

I thought the right way to resolve this would be to remove the step bars, then remove the brackets from the step bars, then re-paint the brackets and reverse the process.

Getting the step bars off the truck was no problem, but when I tried to take the brackets off the bars, big problem.

The bolts started to loosen, then just spun. I can't remove the bolts but I also can't tighten them again either! I took the end caps off and shone a light down in the tube and the bolts appear to be attached with threaded sleeves. I don't know if those sleeves were originally welded to the tube or not, but I have no idea how I would hold them from spinning to either completely remove the bolts or tighten them back up and just mask and paint the brackets in place.

Has anyone else removed the brackets from these tube-style step bars and/or successfully reattached them?

 

Dang, am I the only idiot to have done this then?

 

The threaded sleeves you refer to are called riv-nuts (hollow rivets with internal threads) that are made of mild steel and the step tube is aluminum. Bi-metallic corrosion is the root cause of your problem and there is really no fix other than cut off the bolt heads and drill out the old riv-nuts. Then install new larger riv-nuts and matching bolts.

 

Aha, that makes sense! I'll break out the reciprocating saw... Thanks!

 

Now it needs to stop raining...

 

Done and done.

I used an M10x70 bolt threaded to the head and an M10 nut with 2 3/8" washers with a bit of grease between them as a makeshift rivnut tool.





Then I used M10x1.25 bolts with M10 washers and lock washers to reattach the brackets to the step tubes. I put some Permatex Silver anti-seize compound on the threads to prevent future corrosion in the event I would want to remove them. Which is pretty unlikely I suppose.