Installing fiberglass type skid plates -need ADVICE/HELP!

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03/29/2011, 08:20 PM
ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by vt_maverick

Hey Ron, in VA we have front plates and I found the M6-1.0x35 were too short. I tried the 40's instead and they were too short too. Thinking of going to Fastenal tomorrow to see if they have 45 or 50. Ever run into that problem with any of your other customers?

Do you have my original plates or the fiberglass ones that Roward made. All the plates that I've created were vacuum formed ABS and all utilized the screws: 35's for the top license plate holes and 40's for the bottoms. If you have the fiberglass plates, since my plates were the original molds for these copies, I have a gut feeling that the fiberglass material may have shrunk a bit which will cause the plates to 'pull away' from the cladding and the screws would be too short. Resorting to longer screws, like 45's or 50's, will probably make it work.
03/29/2011, 08:22 PM
ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by vt_maverick

I don't believe the problem is isolated to just Tone-replica hitches - my rear piece doesn't fit either. I'll give the file trick a go tomorrow, but I wonder how well fiberglass stands up to a metal file?

Metal file should be fine. Start with a finer tooth and go up from there. If you start with a big tooth file, it may catch and crack the glass. HTH, ron
03/30/2011, 05:40 AM
vt_maverick

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron

Do you have my original plates or the fiberglass ones that Roward made. All the plates that I've created were vacuum formed ABS and all utilized the screws: 35's for the top license plate holes and 40's for the bottoms. If you have the fiberglass plates, since my plates were the original molds for these copies, I have a gut feeling that the fiberglass material may have shrunk a bit which will cause the plates to 'pull away' from the cladding and the screws would be too short. Resorting to longer screws, like 45's or 50's, will probably make it work.

Sorry Ron, should have been more specific. I do have your plate, but the problem is when you try to mount a front license plate. If you don't need a front plate, 35 works fine.
04/07/2011, 02:38 PM
VX KAT

FRONT SKID INSTALL-
Top 2 holes, where license plate delete goes.
~Weird, one side allowed bolt to go through the inner most hole on the clip thing with the threads, and other side wouldn't whatsoever!
So I had to slide the clip over a little, to line up with skid hole, so the bolt could use the other hole on that clip. Allowed bolt to screw right through it.

~OK, got both of those are nice and snug, with the rubber washer and metal washer on front.
~Had to use 45mm screws.
~Also cut some neoprene washers in half and glued them to the back of skid, covering the raw ends of the "fake" bolts" and the top edge of the plate. Otherwise those would be grinding a nice notch in the cladding.
With the washers glued on, none of the edges of the plate are rubbing too much on the cladding.

Lower plate holes are way way off, at least 1/2", maybe even 3/4". If I sanded down the plate hole with a file, it would end up pretty darn thin between the hole and the edge of the plate. So maybe Luna's "slide hammer" idea would work here.

QUESTION: It seems really secure with just the 2 top bolts, and the lower edge is within 1/2" of the cladding, so nothing's "drooping"....... think it would be sufficient with just those 2? Thoughts, opinions?
04/07/2011, 05:34 PM
vt_maverick

Sue - I had difficulty getting the screws through the plate, delete, and bumper cover, but after some wiggling everything seemed to work okay. Of course there's no way to see exactly which holes I screwed them into, but I feel confident it was the same on each side. Regardless, as long as it looks good from the outside and fits snug, who really cares right?

Personally I would want all four bolts. What happens when you back up and just the skid catches on an object? Seems like it would at least bend the plate and maybe even shear off the top bolts and dent the bumper. I got all 4 bolts in place but it certainly wasn't easy - clearly these things were meant to fit TIGHT. I guess this is something you chalk up to hand-built variances?

I wish I was there to look at it with you, I honestly didn't think mine would fit either until I monkeyed with it for an hour or two. Not saying I could make it work, but I would hate to send you off to cut something if it turned out not to be necessary later.
04/07/2011, 07:45 PM
VX KAT

how'd you do it Mav? I pressed really hard on the bottom area, and maybe got the skid to move about 1/4" closer. Did you make the top 2 tight, and then work on the bottom, or did you loosen the top 2 a bit while trying to get the bottom to snug up closer to the holes? Did you end up sanding/filing the skid holes at all?

I can see how the slide hammer or a making a bridge would definitely help in this scenario.

I don't know how much I can push the ABS plastic w/o damaging it.

I even got a crazy idea of cutting off about 3-4" off straight across the bottom....no screws to install, and less likely to catch on anything or get scraped when off road. :goof:

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3843.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3853.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3874.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3885.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3840.JPG
04/07/2011, 08:05 PM
ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by VX KAT

how'd you do it Mav? I pressed really hard on the bottom area, and maybe got the skid to move about 1/4" closer. Did you make the top 2 tight, and then work on the bottom, or did you loosen the top 2 a bit while trying to get the bottom to snug up closer to the holes? Did you end up sanding/filing the skid holes at all?

I can see how the slide hammer or a making a bridge would definitely help in this scenario.

I don't know how much I can push the ABS plastic w/o damaging it.

I even got a crazy idea of cutting off about 3-4" off straight across the bottom....no screws to install, and less likely to catch on anything or get scraped when off road. :goof:

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3843.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3853.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3874.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3885.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3840.JPG

Your plate looks great installed. Not sure why you and vt_maverick is having a hard time installing the plates. However, come to think of it, I do believe that the bottoms are attached to some sort of bracket? that can get out of position if the bumper was bumped or twisted previously. With a little effort, these brackets can be pushed back into place for proper re-alignment for the bottom screws. Once you get that resolved, then you can start all four screws at the same time just to get all screws in a few threads. Then you can tighten everything down.

Just still puzzles me why both of you are using longer than 40mm for installing the front plates. I actually used to send out 35mm for the license plate and 40mm for the bottoms when I sold them back then.
04/07/2011, 08:11 PM
ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by VX KAT

how'd you do it Mav? I pressed really hard on the bottom area, and maybe got the skid to move about 1/4" closer. Did you make the top 2 tight, and then work on the bottom, or did you loosen the top 2 a bit while trying to get the bottom to snug up closer to the holes? Did you end up sanding/filing the skid holes at all?

I can see how the slide hammer or a making a bridge would definitely help in this scenario.

I don't know how much I can push the ABS plastic w/o damaging it.

I even got a crazy idea of cutting off about 3-4" off straight across the bottom....no screws to install, and less likely to catch on anything or get scraped when off road. :goof:

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3843.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3853.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3874.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3885.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSCF3840.JPG

Your plate looks great installed. Not sure why you and vt_maverick is having a hard time installing the plates. However, come to think of it, I do believe that the bottoms are attached to some sort of bracket? that can get out of position if the bumper was bumped or twisted previously. With a little effort, these brackets can be pushed back into place for proper re-alignment for the bottom screws. Once you get that resolved, then you can start all four screws at the same time just to get all screws in a few threads. Then you can tighten everything down.

Just still puzzles me why both of you are using longer than 40mm for installing the front plates. I actually used to send out 35mm for the license plate and 40mm for the bottoms when I sold them back then.

Regarding cutting off 3-4" off the bottom edge with only the two license plate screws holding the plate, I would highly advise against it. You'll need at least 4 secure mounting points for the plate to be held safely onto the front of the vehicle. If you eliminate the bottom mounting points, you can jeopardize the plate's installation security and could possibly break off at time. I've some owners who replaced the top cosmetic screws with real screws into the cladding for additional security. Going less than the minimum 4 screws would not be advisable IMO. HTH.
04/07/2011, 08:20 PM
vt_maverick

I got the license plate bolts in first, left them REAL loose (as in only 2-3 turns on the threads), then worked the lower bolts through the opening and onto their threads, then turned them until the plate contacted the cladding. Then I went back up to the license plate bolts, torqued them all the way down, then went back to the lower bolts. I tried the reverse a few times and found that to be impossible.

Looks good Sue!
04/07/2011, 09:01 PM
VX KAT

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron

Regarding cutting off 3-4" off the bottom edge with only the two license plate screws holding the plate, I would highly advise against it.

Oh, most know that was just one of my typical bizarre joking ideas when I'm frustrated....:_brickwal

I used 45s because I had the metal washer and then a rubber washer too. I tried both 35 and 40s and couldn't get it to catch.

...dang Ash, I can't even see getting a single thread started on those bottom ones, it's at such an angle, even when pressing the bottom. I'll snap some pics tomorrow when it's light.

Ron, I'll look more closely at the bracket you're talking about. Although I did note the cladding hole and the bracket hole were in perfect alignment.

Hey LUNA! What's your schedule look like? :flower::whiteflag:

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