Seat Belt Latch Replacement, propane torch, motorcycle owne

Hi there and I hope this question finds you well. I own a 1993 Ford Explorer SUV and have experienced a broken (really a worn out) seat belt latch. I have a replacement and tried to unbolt the original, but the bolt is absolutely frozen on there. I believe that they put a compound on the bolt/post to keep it from being removed. How does one go about making this fix or do you have to have a dealer do it? Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer
    The bottom of this bolt pokes out into the space beneath the truck.  The tip of the blot will get very crusty with rust and dirt, and the corrosion will eat back into the threads.  They don't generally use threadlocker on these things.  Try and find the end of the bolt under the truck.  Use a propane torch with a small flame to heat just the tip of the bolt.  When it's good and hot spray it with some penetrating oil.  Doing this a couple of times should allow the penetrating oil to be sucked up into the space between the threads and start to eat away at the rust.  If you can find an impact-rated Torx bit to use on the bolt in the cab, get an impact wrench and wail away on it.  Just make sure you've cleaned all of the crud out of the hole in the bolt so that the tool gets a good grip on the bolt.  Another tool that could be useful is the impact driver.  It's designed so that striking it with a hammer causes it to rotate while the blow from the hammer keeps it from jumping out of the hole.  All motorcycle owners should have one, they're very handy.

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