A/C shroud bolt

[Toby Tyler]

I had to replace the shroud for the rooftop air conditioner. One of the nuts was rusted on so I tore the bolt out. I couldn't find a replacement at the hardware store. Has anybody had a similar problem? Any solutions?

[SLEETH]

no  not as such / got to go there  my self soon
got a pic  of the fastener in question?

[HamRad Mobile]

Good morning; 
'
     The fasteners on my 1987 Coleman Delta-TX air conditioner covers were just 1/4-20 UNC with the top nut being an extended Acorn nut.  However, I am not sure how the mount attaches to the galvanized sheet metal housing of the air conditioner assembly itself. 

     A reasonable hardware store should have the materials from which to make a replacement bolt assembly that will go back onto your air conditioner.  I have done things like that using 1/4-20 UNC stainless steel "all thread" and either "coupling nuts" or just stainless steel nuts held in place with Loc-Tite for height adjustment where necessary to hold something a specified distance away from a surface.  Holding a plastic cover onto an air conditioner normally does not require a truly "high strength" fastener. 

     Perhaps I should also mention that now my air conditioner hold-down nuts have been replaced with four 2 inch long 1/4-20 coupling nuts and some stainless steel bolts that now hold up a 30 inch by 42 inch aluminum plate over the air conditioner cover.  The aluminum plate is used for a mount for an antenna and the ground plane for that antenna. 

           Enjoy; 

           Ralph 
           Latte Land, Washington 

[RANGERRICK]

That bolt is spot welded to the sheet metal from the bottom up.It is a special bolt that i don't think you can get in a hardware store.What i have done in the pass is weld a 1/4-20 bolt with out the head to a fender washer and then rivet it to the sheet metal.You should remove the sheet metal when doing this repair because you don't want to damage the coils that are under the sheet metal.If you still have nuts that have to be removed,i would try drilling a small hole in top of the acorn nuts and put some penetrating oil in the hole and let is sit over night then try removing them.

[legomybago]

A friend of mine had this same problem, this is good advise. We were kind of stumped looking at his AC...We didn't want to have to tear the whole unit apart in order to weld a new bolt in.