Anyone know how the "nuts" into which the license plate screws screw are fixed in the trunk lid? MB obviously doesn't understand Galvanic action as the nuts are lead or some soft metal while the screws are steel.

I've got my plates off, and have new nuts (elongated tubes, hexagonal on the outside, about 1" long) but can't figure out how to make the nuts stay in their hexagonal holes in the trunk lid sheet metal. I imagine there is a special tool, but can't imagine what it might do to make the nuts fast.

This is so common that someone must have a way of fixing it without a special tool.

Is this some sort of station wagon you're talking about?

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

If the nuts are of the type that need to be compressed or squeezed (like a blind rivet) you might be able to put a nut and washer on a bolt, then screw the bolt into the nut. Hold the bolt with a wrench (or screwdriver) and run the nut down with another wrench to compress the nut. For that matter, if the nuts are soft enough, simply tightening down a screw might be all that is needed.

Thanks tangofox. I have a '92 300SD (W140). I seem to have two different types of nuts. There are long ones (about an inch). They are hexagonal with a round rim which is what remains on the outside of the trunk lid. There is a unthreaded space of maybe 1/8"+ just inside the open end of the nut where the nut might be crushed along the screw axis if you held the nut on the inside of the trunk lid and mashed down on it hard with a hex bolt from the outside. If there is a special tool for doing this, it sure seems like an obtuse way to attach a license plate, especially as it corrodes anyway.

The other nut that I have is the same idea, but about 5/8" long and with no neck space inside (unthreaded) to allow for crushing. I had originally thought the nuts were meant to be crushed against the sheet metal, but that does not seem to be possible with the short ones as they are threaded all the way out to the license plate. Also, the stock screws seem to completely fill the barrel of the short nuts.

I've been wondering why the holes in the trunk lid are hexagonal and not just round, but your idea makes sense as the nut needs to be able to be held on the inside and the easiest way to do that is to make the barrel of the nut suitable for a hex wrench.

The short ones are on the bottom two screws and there is not room between the outer and inner wall of the lid for the long ones to fit.

They are hexagonal so they do not spin in the blind hole. That's a common problem with round Rivnuts.

That certainty seems reasonable, but I and other folks seem to have them spin when changing plates, i.e., trying to get the screws out of the nuts in the presence of considerable galvanic corrosion. As well, it seems easy to spin them when installing them as the metal is so soft and the bearing surface of the sheet metal is so minimal, unless, of course, you have the tool.

Still trying to figure out how the short ones work as they are threaded their entire length suggesting that crushing along the axis of the screw is not going to work well. And if it's not supposed to work with the short ones, would it not make sense for both types to be installed the same way, i.e., some other way than crushing, but I can't imangine what that might be.

I picked this "Cruiser Accessories Ultimate Kit" up at the local Advance Auto Parts, they have everything you need to fasten both the front and rear lincese plates, with parts left over. Also available at Wally World, evidently...

Cruiser Accessories Ultimate Kit

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1985 300DT, Classic White, California, 159K
1982 240D, Metallic Silver-Blue, Manual Everything, 376K
1981 240D, Orient Red, Parts Car/Engine Donor, 145K

"When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?" - Yoda

the nuts are available from the dealer. i got some recently when a couple of them seized on my wife's wagon. had to drill them out. i haven't tried to install them yet but they are a type of blind rivet made of soft aluminum, the part of the nut just below the shoulder is designed to deform. technically it looks like you need a special tool to install them but i'm pretty sure they can be installed with a little improvised tool.

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punkinfair