Crow Horse

I'm planning on upgrading the rear hatch handle & linkage on my 99 to the new handle and threaded linkage. In the mean time, I lubed the mechanism and linkages but was not able to tighten the loose handle. Not wanting to snap the single bolt that secures it without a replacement on hand, I left it alone. I did adjust the existing linkage and the hatch now operates as designed, but the handle is still a bit loose. I saturated the bolt with penetrating oil, but it it looked like it was either spinning while tightening or the bold itself was twisting (just before the dreaded snap). My questions are, is there a way to tighten it without fubarring it all up, and when a replacement is on hand, if the bolt doesn't snap when attempting to remove it, what's the best way of getting that bugger out?