Stripped T-Nuts?

Been having a horrible time stripping T-Nuts on my home wall. I am using bracketed (hammer in) T-nuts, & when I over tighten a hold it can sometimes bend the teeth of the t nut to the point where it isn't fastened to the plywood any longer. Presumably the threads on the inside of the t-nut are still fine - but the bolt/ t nut will just continue to spin if I try to loosen it.
I am mainly concerned with getting my hold off the wall. I don't really care about salvaging the t-nut, or space in the wall. Any tips for getting the hold off/ removing the t-nut?

You could try to exert as much outwards pressure on the hold as possible, so the T-nut is pressed against the board on the inside.

Try wedges under the hold. While unscrewing tap the wedges deeper.

A friend has had that happen to a couple holds as well.  If you can get to the T-nut on the back and have someone hold it with channel locks or vice grips you might be able to get it freed up.  For one hold my friend resorted to just cutting the wood around the T-nut because it would not budge, now there's a two finger pocket feature on the wall.

It seemed to happen more with holes that were drilled a little smaller than the outside diameter of the T-nut.

Get some screw-in t nuts. Much easier to replace if they get stripped

Michael Gardner-Brown wrote:I am mainly concerned with getting my hold off the wall. I don't really care about salvaging the t-nut, or space in the wall. Any tips for getting the hold off/ removing the t-nut?

If this ^^^ is your main objective, couldn't you just use an angle grinder?

Brady3 wrote: A friend has had that happen to a couple holds as well.  If you can get to the T-nut on the back and have someone hold it with channel locks or vice grips you might be able to get it freed up.  For one hold my friend resorted to just cutting the wood around the T-nut because it would not budge, now there's a two finger pocket feature on the wall.

It seemed to happen more with holes that were drilled a little smaller than the outside diameter of the T-nut.

This is what works.  However, worst case scenario I've taken a Sawzall with a long blade and slid it behind the hold and just cut the bolt.  Then hammer out the T-Nut.  

Brady3 wrote: A friend has had that happen to a couple holds as well.  If you can get to the T-nut on the back and have someone hold it with channel locks or vice grips you might be able to get it freed up.  For one hold my friend resorted to just cutting the wood around the T-nut because it would not budge, now there's a two finger pocket feature on the wall.

It seemed to happen more with holes that were drilled a little smaller than the outside diameter of the T-nut.

Yeah I kept "stripping" the t nuts. The teeth would come off then it would just spin and jam in there making it impossible to remove not only the nut, but the bolt and hold. Very nasty issue.

My experience below if anyone runs into it:

This happened for me because I made the holes too small and decided I would pull the bolts into the wood from the other side. Which worked like 80% of the time. But if the teeth don't sink fast enough they bend, snap, then jam. So make big enough holes and ensure you hammer them in.

In the following order to not damage it.

1.) If your tnut heads aren't perfectly circular (most aren't because of the teeth) you can try drilling a screw through the board near the nut to lock in place then remove it. I have bent a number of screws doing this though.

2.) Try the wedge trick mentioned above, pushing the nut against the wood very firmly to prevent spinning.

3.) Try some pliers or other clamps, I would try this after the above two as you might damage/get it stuck even more.

4.) Get the angle grinder out. I have never been able to save the bolt. Maybe I need a better blade but the some of the nut melts onto the bolt making a stopper. I cut a square around the bolt, real close to it, bend it with pliers a bit, hammer it out. Then I clamp the hold to a bench and use the angle grinder to cut off the bolt so it will come out of the hold without hammering it through. Not something I would ever hope to do behind an already in place wall.

Long story short I just use the t nuts with 3 holes in them and screws instead of the teethed ones now.

You can sometimes "pry" the hold away from the wall enough you can get a saw blade in - then use a "sawsall" with a longer blade to cut the bolt off just behind the hole.  I've done it more than once at our climbing wall.  Depending on the wall construction - you can always remove the entire sheet of plywood and fix it properly from the back.