I am in the middle of replacing the top on my 91. While tightening the 10mm nuts onto the studs that hold the rain rail and top on I managed to snap one stud in half. I have no idea how to replace this stud, it doesn't look like there is any way to access the back of the stud to replace it.

Has anyone had to fix a broken top stud like this?

 

Here is a picture of the location of the broken stud. Driver''s side.

 

Drill it out and put a bolt in it. Or just run without it and make sure the rest are good.

 

I'd say drill out and put a rivnut in there, and use a small bolt.

 

Drill it out and tap the hole for a bolt. It's more than one layer thick there.

 

It's just sheet metal back there so I doubt I can just drill and tap it for a bolt. I thought about the idea of using a rivnut. It should work and is my plan B right now.

I am going to try and turn a shoulder nut that can reach in and thread onto the ~1/2" of stud that I still have left. Luckily it didn't break the stud flush with the sheet metal.

 

I ended up cleaning the ~1/2" of stud I had left and making a shoulder nut on the lathe that could still grab on the bit of stud that is left. It worked great.

I thought this was going to be a huge headache!

 

Ingenious!

 

Can you confirm the thread pitch was M8 x 1.5?
I am having the same issue and trying to go the route you took. I acquired a M8 x 1.5 coupling nut, just need to get it machined to fit into the rain rail hole.

 

They’re m6x1.

m8 is almost always 1.25.

 

I knew the coupling nut look a little big haha, thanks. Guess I need to make another run to the hardware store