There is no way under the sun, short of yanking the whole subframe, that anyone could have any chance of spot welding new ones into the chassis. There is zero room for an adventure like that. Anyone who has fought with them, can attest.

You're late to the party. Read the top of the thread where I discuss my dilemma.

 

I ordered that cage nut and the bolts from RockAuto.
fastsuv used 14-2.0 flange nuts , post #31 or so.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/www....page=4&t=62353

 

I did several times, but I thought that was resolved when you got the nut out. You needed to get the bar out to get to the nut. Once the nuts are out you can drop the rear down enough.

 

Short of dropping the cradle, I have no idea how you would have gotten in there to tack weld the replacement cage to the frame. I struggled to get my small brazing torch in there to remove the old nut, and was applying heat blindly in the nook from the only angle I could access. I couldn't imagine getting a welder in there to tack the cage in place. There is no visibility.

Fastsuv dropped the entire cradle. There was no way I was doing that!Moreoever, his dilemma was on the passenger side. There is plenty room on that side to put a hex nut in there and have hopes of getting a wrench on it in the future. But that's not so for the driver's side. The sway bar is in the way. The steering rack is in the way. The fuel lines are in the way. The brake lines are in the way. The transmission is in the way. There is way too much clutter on the driver's side. Fastsuv lucked out that his driver's side nut stayed in place.

Yah, I got the nut out, but was then stuck trying to figure out how to recapture the nut for the new installation (and any future service work).

 

fastsuv had the same issue in the driver’s side working on Oldblue, now his daughter’s car, he did modify a 21 mm wrench to hold the nut, to install the cradle.

 

I suppose that's an option to put a standard nut in there and then make a custom wrench for it. But there's no way to tack weld a new cage in there, at least not with the subframe in place.

As it stands now, I contorted the cage as best as I could to help hold the nut in place. It seemed like it was going to stay put. I cleaned away rust from the bolt threads and lathered it in Never-Seez before installing. Then I took it out and did it again, to make sure there was an abundance of Never-Seez in there. So fingers are crossed, hoping things cooperate if/when I need to take that bolt out again.

 

My idea is to take the new green nut out of the cage and use it, held in place with a fabricated wrench, or weld plate to it just big enough to stop it from spinning.

 

That ^^^^

 

Here’s fastsuv’s modification of the wrench method, post #53

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/www....page=6&t=62657