Rear Bumper Removal / Hitch Mod (for oversized spares)

[Matt]

1) +1 rep points... i gotta do this

2) Another trick to keeping those bolts from spinning is a jab of JB-Weld underneath the head (assuming you have some time to wait for it to cure) if you don't have a welder

3) I believe this piece is "hanging" on the frame with all of the bolts in double-shear. Decreasing the size and grade of the bolt will reduce their overall load capacity.... however, if you're just replacing the middle two bolts and retaining the OEM outer two bolts, it's probably not reduced by a significant amount. I'm sure it's OK, especially since these parts tend to have a ridiculous safety factor built in to account for degradation of the bolts & frame for the life of the vehicle, and some planning for stupidity (there's always someone out there that'll grossly overload it). Do you know what size the stock bolts are?

[Matt]

Founds Omelets pictures. The hitch is hanging so the bolts are taking load. This shows it pretty good:





For piece of mind you can get 1/2" x 4" grade 8 bolts instead of grade 5.. they're called Shaker bolts:

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products...0167164&ucst=t

[NeilSmith]

I also thought about doing this mod. What I havent checked out yet was how far my receiver and hitch basket go up into the hitch. If they protrude through too far than it would make this mod a waste of time. So, you may want to check this first and see if you can cut them down also.

[hoaxci5]

http://www.rockcrawler.com/techrepor...ners/index.asp

If I'm not mistaken, this is showing that each of the 1/2" bolts can take 14730 lbs shear capability, if that's the case there should be nothing to worry about correct? A hemi is only rated to tow 7200 lbs, and I understand force is different than dead weight so starting and stopping will put a larger force than the weight of the trailer. But in theory one bolt should be enough to handle the full towing amount. (Obviously I'm not recommending that, just a point of discussion and I'd like to feel safe towing..)

[Matt]

http://www.rockcrawler.com/techrepor...ners/index.asp

If I'm not mistaken, this is showing that each of the 1/2" bolts can take 14730 lbs shear capability, if that's the case there should be nothing to worry about correct? A hemi is only rated to tow 7200 lbs, and I understand force is different than dead weight so starting and stopping will put a larger force than the weight of the trailer. But in theory one bolt should be enough to handle the full towing amount. (Obviously I'm not recommending that, just a point of discussion and I'd like to feel safe towing..)

Yes/No... it gets a bit more complicated when you start taking into account fatigue cycling and other factors.

Did you replace all 4 bolts with grade 5 carriage bolts? If so, I'd probably swap them out for the grade-8s i linked for peace of mind. If you only replaced the center two, don't sweat it but it couldn't hurt to throw those better bolts in there.

From your own link:

“When in doubt, make it stout!”

[hoaxci5]

Ugg.. once I get my replacement spare tire winch I'll have to take a look and see if the two outer bolts would hit or not.. I might just put the originals back in.

[Matt]

What size spare are you running? I recall seeing that for the outer two you just need to cut off the excess bolt to fit a 265/70/17 in there...


Edit: and another idea for those who can weld... clean up the area and throw some fillet welds around there to add support. Dont see a reason you'd want to permanently remove the hitch (and even if you did, you could grind the welds off)