problem mounting nerf bars

[dderolph]

I have a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero Sport. The black nerf bars on it were terribly rusted so I bought a pair of nerf bars on eBay. The old bars were attached to each side of the vehicle at 3 mounting points. The new bars only have two support brackets to attach to the vehicle; this would be the front and rear mounting points on each side of the vehicle.

So, today, I was removing the old nerf bar on the driver side. Each of the three curved-bar supports, or arms as they could be called, is secured to the vehicle with two bolts, a vertical one and a side/horizontal one. Removing the vertical means removing the bolt which threads into the frame. In the cases of the side bolt, the bolt is welded to the frame and a nut is removed to remove the mounting arm. Removing the front and middle set of bolts and nuts went OK. But, when I was removing the nut on the rear bolt/nut pair, I got the bolt (vertical) out OK but broke the side bolt when attempting to remove the nut.

Keeping in mind that the new nerf bars - you can see them here - has two mounts instead of 3, this means the weight at the back end of the bar would only be supported by 1 bolt if I simply installed it that way. I'm concerned that that may not be safe, that it might not hold when a heavy adult steps on it.

So, what possible solutions do I have? One thought is to have a welder weld the mounting arm to the frame along the side where the bolt broke. If the nerf bars are ever replaced again, this would complicate removal of this new nerf bar; I imagine an angle grinder could be used to grind the weld spots off.

Another idea: drill a hole near the broken bolt and just use a metal screw there. I think this would be very difficult. Drilling through metal is always much more difficult than drilling wood.

What would you suggest?

[dderolph]

Well, I see the Montero section of this forum doesn't get much action.

As solution to the broken stud-bolt, I took the vehicle to a welding shop and they welded the mounting bracket to the vehicle. If this bracket ever needs to be replaced, a grinder will have be used to remove it but, still, that seemed to be the best solution. The welder only charged $20.