Four Nuts in Rear Cross Member

[SirGerald]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has worked out an easy way of getting access to the four nuts that the rear factory towing eye is bolted to??

Wanting to remove them and replace them with some harder nuts and to me looks like the only way will be with mr Grinder and either cutting them out from the back or some sort of slit from underneath??

Guess other option could be running a drill through from the back and drill them out and then weld new nuts in?? Has anyone pulled them apart before or know exactly what is in there (i.e. are they nuts or just thread into the steel plate??).

The third option is to build a new rear bar and mount tow hook etc on that as we have discussed previoulsy but wanting to explore all options first.

The reason for trying to change the nuts is I have heard that we had a issue in our club before (with a pajero) where the hi-tens bolts pulled out of the factory nuts and the towing truck inherited a tow hook etc in his rear door.

[haydgq]

Hey Stu,

I'm sure they are just factory welded captive nuts and theres no room in behind there for a thicker plate and longer HT bolts to be used, I wanted to do the same to one of my Safari's but i just ended up using the receiver hitch on my towbar that was modded to sit up nice and high etc.

Cheers

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has worked out an easy way of getting access to the four nuts that the rear factory towing eye is bolted to??

Wanting to remove them and replace them with some harder nuts and to me looks like the only way will be with mr Grinder and either cutting them out from the back or some sort of slit from underneath??

Guess other option could be running a drill through from the back and drill them out and then weld new nuts in?? Has anyone pulled them apart before or know exactly what is in there (i.e. are they nuts or just thread into the steel plate??).

The third option is to build a new rear bar and mount tow hook etc on that as we have discussed previoulsy but wanting to explore all options first.

The reason for trying to change the nuts is I have heard that we had a issue in our club before (with a pajero) where the hi-tens bolts pulled out of the factory nuts and the towing truck inherited a tow hook etc in his rear door.

[DaveM]

I haven't had the nuts strip, but have had the nuts try to pull through the plate so went for a hayman reese setup

[safarifern]

Yep I was told that not to use the factory one via my club, the club has seen many brake away and cause problems. I just drilled and bolted 2 high tension bolts in both sides of the tow bar and mounted tow hooks on both sides. Been there 2 years and no problems snatching out. At some point will get a back bar made up when I have the cash ... unless any one whats to part with one???

[Terry]

I stripped the threads on the top 2 bolt holes on mine. Easiest fix (acceptable to my club) was:

1) drill right through front of chassis, captive nut, and back of chassis for all 4 holes - I think it was 16 or 17 mm hole,
2) put in crush tubes, I'm pretty sure 16mm OD, 13mm ID - whatever was lying around - bolt the crush tubes in with big washer at the back so they're flush at the back, tack weld the front and grind smooth
3) clamp a big thick plate at the back - the back of the chasssis isn't one thickness - it's like a 2 x 2 with a 4 x 2 on top so the plate has to be a "zed" kinda shape - it's obvious if you scrape the mud off and have a look.
4) drill 13mm holes through the back plate from the outside of the truck, using the crush tubes as guides. I had to weld a 13mm bar to a drill bit to do this (top of chassis rails are quite deep), but it worked fine.
5) weld 13mm hi-tensile rated nuts to the back of the plate
6) put an extra couple holes in the back plate, tap into the rear chassis and screw on - so you don't have to hold it in place when you take the recovery things off.
7) bolt whatever your recovery hook is attached to (chunky bracket, hayman reese, pintle hook, wahtever) though the crush tubes to the nuts on the plate. use rated bolts and good washers.
consume beverages in celebration.
cheers,
Terry

[darinz]

I've never had the nuts strip out and I had a towbar originally mounted just to those nuts as well. However the chassis around then started to split.
To be honest fixing any recovery point to a bolt in tension is asking for trouble as all of the load is focused on the thread so any issue with it will show up. Fitting it so you have the bolts in shear is a far safer way of doing it.