TheSamba.com :: View topic - Bumper Install Help... stripped thread...

Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:05 am

Working on installing a new front bumper system for my Syncro build. I have the GoWesty Plate steel front bumper, GW Front Hitch, and Rocky Mountain Westy grill guard. I am hitting a couple issues and wanted to get some help and offer some observations.

Help
1. What is the size and coarse type of the two front bumper screws?
2. The welded threads For the front bolt on one side of my body bumper are in poor shape. Is there any way I can rethread it? The driver side is perfect, but the passenger side is a hard to get started and doesn't hold well.

Observations
1. The RMW grill guard bolts on easy to the GW bumper after some easy drilling. It'S stout and awesome. The finish doesn't match the GW bumper, but it's fine. The GW bumper finish is more coarse than the RMW grill guard.
2. The GW front hitch is a pain to get aligned from top to bottom. There are two long bolts that go from the top all the way down, through the body bumper and through the bottom of the GW bumper. Measuring perfect center (to use the hitch as a guide) is near impossible given the curved bumper sides, and then going perfectly straight down with the drill through the body is also tough.
3. By adding the GA hitch and RMW front grill guard. It is adding a ton of structure to the bumper, which is "flaring" the bumper out a bit and takes away all the flex from the bumper. With just the GW bumper, it could sit pretty flush on both sides of the front bolts. With all of these additions, there seems to be more gap from the body front as a result. So now the front screws seem to be having to "push" the front of the bumper against the van. So it you tighten one end of the bumper down, there is a gap on the other side, and the bumper has no "give" anymore. So you have to tighten one side a little and then the other side, and go back and forth.

Pics are up when done, trying to sort out the front bolts. Any help on the size and that threading question?

Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:47 am

8x1.25

Sun Jul 01, 2012 3:33 pm

I'd get what is known as a "thread chaser" which is designed to clean out kludged up threads. SD's given the size, so you are set. Then I'd purchase new fasteners to use, rather than the ones that did the kludging and were themselves beat up a bit.

If things don't feel good when you install, consider the force you are likely to put on the bumper when offroad or using the bumper to pull against for helping someone out, etc in deciding if its time to have a welder install new captive welded bolts. A bumper is a key system, unlike a minor interior bracket with slightly stripped threads, etc.

DougM