Replacing internal star nuts

[Bman]

Was much easier than I thought it would be.  I did this a while back, but Pez's post reminded me I still had the photos.

I bought these from the local bicycle shop for 2 bucks each, but next time I'll order online.
These are metric so I couldn't use any bolts I had on hand, but a couple bucks later from Home Depot and I was in business.



Bike shop said to use a screwdriver & hammer to get the nut started into the tube



But I saw no reason to switch to the extention as they explained, so I just kept going with the screwdriver



And we're seated.  Edit to add --- Make sure you don't drive the star nut too deep into the tube. 
If you do, the factory length bolts won't reach the threaded portion of the star nut.



Just a quick shot of black paint to cover the exposed metal and these tubes are back in action.

[jcnaz]

Thanks!
I will have a post in the near future showing why I needed this information.

[OoPEZoO]

Yup.....thats basically the exact same way I went about it.  The only difference I made was I drilled a hole in a piece of scrap metal, passed a bolt through that hole, and threaded it into the star nut.  Then I hammered it into the tube until the scrap metal sat flush on the end of the tube.  I was concerned about getting the star nuts in the tubes perfectly square.  I'm not sure it was worth the extra effort.  Next time, I will just use a screw driver or thin drift punch as you did.

One additional thing to note for anyone that is going to do this.  Just make sure that you don't drive the star nut too deep into the tube.  If you do, the factory length bolts will not reach the threaded portion of the star nut.  Then you will either need to find longer bolts, or attempt to remove the star nut (NOT EASY!).

[Bman]

One additional thing to note for anyone that is going to do this.  Just make sure that you don't drive the star nut too deep into the tube.  If you do, the factory length bolts will not reach the threaded portion of the star nut.  Then you will either need to find longer bolts, or attempt to remove the star nut (NOT EASY!).

This is a great point!  The star nuts actually go in pretty easy, so it wouldn't take much to drive them in too deep.

[Troy]

great post!

[MINIgrillin]

Great stuff! !  I have a bike store walking distance from the house. Tyvm for the info.

[argentflame]

I did this mod. I was trying to take out the bolt from the 1" bar when the bolt broke while I was loosening it. I try to drill out the bolt and it was really hard. Talk to Heyjude the next day and he told me it is darn near impossible to take out the broken bolt. He was right I spent 2 hours drilling the broken bolt to no avail. Of course Aj called me a rookie. Lol. He then told me to asked Gummi what I needed to do. Gummi told me Search for Star nuts. Thanks to both of you. Thank you Bman for posting this mod. It was very easy.

I bought a 1" Star nut and a
Metrix Hex Cap Size M6-1.0X40MM