Thank you Bartamos for laying that out. I will be sure to get bolts with the shanks long enough so that the threads stars after the load. I have a really nice fastener shop close to me and they have a large selection of both 5 and 8 grade fasteners. If you were going do this repair, would you go with 5 or 8 if both were available? I have read that there can be a disadvantage to grade 8 bolts, even though the are stronger, because they don't tolerate flex/vibration as must as 5.
I really don't know what happened to that bracket. The passenger side is solid as a rock. I took a look at the rivets on the lose bracket and it does appear that the rivet heads are different...one appears to stick out further then the other. I cleaned everything up but I cant find any witness marks of repair or replacing rivets...no grinding, scratches, etc...
It's a mystery for sure.
