Broken BIOR Latch Bolt

[OregonLC]

LC isn't my DD, but I've been driving it the last few days post 90k to shake any bugs out in advance of the upcoming season. My BIOR rear has never been completely silent, but I noticed a new slight chatter. Upon inspection the spare side latch hook was pulling up from the bottom due to a broken bolt. Will need to pull the bumper to drill it out and replace with hardened hardware. Might want to check yours. I do have a very heavy spare on the back which may have contributed.

 

[mechanixhorseman]

Make sure to upgrade to grade 8 hardware afterwards as it only comes with grade 5. Same thing happened to me. To make matters worse I broke off a cobalt bolt extractor in mine so there is no drilling/tapping it out. I also have a pretty heavy spare with a bike rack on it. This was my work around:

 

[3D FJ]

For both of you, what is constitutes a heavy spare? 35? Toyo mt? I am most likely going to be having a 35" spare at some point. I know I will need a spacer just for the spare. Wish they weren't so expensive.

 

[yeti in ga]

interesting , I have a little older bumper only by a year but mine are welded tabs... I did notice this has changed a while back.

here is the best pic I have of them. They are beefy.

 

[OregonLC]

For both of you, what is constitutes a heavy spare? 35? Toyo mt? I am most likely going to be having a 35" spare at some point. I know I will need a spacer just for the spare. Wish they weren't so expensive.

It's a 295/70R18 NTG. About 97 lbs. Spacer for what?

 

[OregonLC]

Make sure to upgrade to grade 8 hardware afterwards as it only comes with grade 5. Same thing happened to me. To make matters worse I broke off a cobalt bolt extractor in mine so there is no drilling/tapping it out. I also have a pretty heavy spare with a bike rack on it. This was my work around:

http://s40.photobucket.com/user/mechanixhorseman/media/image_zps1df6f962.jpeg.html

Yep, definitely GR 8 on the fix. Did you drill and tap the new hole or did you use a nut? I think I'm going to oversize both top and bottom and then use nuts.

 

[3D FJ]

It's a 295/70R18 NTG. About 97 lbs. Spacer for what?

For the 35's I am looking at for a 16" rim I will have to put a spacer on the spare tire mount to clear the hi lift (unless I am mistaken)

 

[OregonLC]

For the 35's I am looking at for a 16" rim I will have to put a spacer on the spare tire mount to clear the hi lift (unless I am mistaken)

Same offset rim? Mine touches the rubber holder thingy on the jack but its not tight. If you were wider than a 295 maybe.

 

[3D FJ]

Currently I have my 33" duratracs (295/65/18) on my stock 18" Lexus rims. The spare fits fine and touches the hi lift with relative ease. In the garage I have the lc stock 16's which I am thinking of wrapping with 315/75/16 tires. I am pretty sure I will have a bit of difficulty with the hi lift with this width tire. I have to investigate whether I will be able to push out the spare by just using washers utilizing the length bolts that mike (bior) put on the carrier or if an actual wheel adapter spacer is necessary.

 

[OregonLC]

Ya, that may be tight. Off topic, but what do you hope to gain with the 315 on 16's? If anything I'm going narrower next time.

 

[jgray]

I've had a 315/75/16 BFG KM2 MT on my BIO HC rear bumper for about a year and a half plus hi-lift jack with no issues. Plenty of time on and off road. I believe the latch packages included all mounting hardware.

 

[OregonLC]

I believe the latch packages included all mounting hardware.

Lol, they do but it's not hardened... And they break.

 

[3D FJ]

Ya, that may be tight. Off topic, but what do you hope to gain with the 315 on 16's? If anything I'm going narrower next time.

I too would like to go narrower, but taller. For me, it's about tire selection and what comes in those sizes. I have tabs open in front of me for cooper, toyo, goodyear, nitto, and bfg. Finding the right combo of tire and size it tricky.

But back on topic.... If you place a bolt through the bumper and a nut on the inside of the bumper, is there enough room? I could be wrong, but isn't the inside of the bumper pretty close to almost being flush with the rear crossmember?

 

[mechanixhorseman]

For both of you, what is constitutes a heavy spare? 35? Toyo mt? I am most likely going to be having a 35" spare at some point. I know I will need a spacer just for the spare. Wish they weren't so expensive.

305 BFGs. It's not a super heavy spare, but I'm mostly counting my spare tire mounted bike rack that carries a relatively heavy mountain bike. (See pic below).

Yep, definitely GR 8 on the fix. Did you drill and tap the new hole or did you use a nut? I think I'm going to oversize both top and bottom and then use nuts.

I too would like to go narrower, but taller. For me, it's about tire selection and what comes in those sizes. I have tabs open in front of me for cooper, toyo, goodyear, nitto, and bfg. Finding the right combo of tire and size it tricky.

But back on topic.... If you place a bolt through the bumper and a nut on the inside of the bumper, is there enough room? I could be wrong, but isn't the inside of the bumper pretty close to almost being flush with the rear crossmember?

No, there is not enough room to bolt all the way through unless you intend to drill through your frame, which seems sort of trivial considering the part. I just re-tapped.

 

[3D FJ]

Same thing happened to me today except I was trying to measure the height of my hitch to my spare using a ball hitch and somehow I just happened to knock into the center of the bolt head and off came the head if the bolt. Does anyone know what size thread/bolt goes in this spot? I called mike early this morning but he hasn't called back yet.

 

[3D FJ]

Mike just called. 5/16" 18 3/4" length. He said he has since switched to grade 8.

 

[OregonLC]

No, there is not enough room to bolt all the way through unless you intend to drill through your frame, which seems sort of trivial considering the part. I just re-tapped.

Oh, there's room. The only thing it required was a fender washer between the BIOR and the rear cross member where it bolts into the OE hitch point. IIRC, I used 3/8" + nylock nut for the lower and 5/16 into tapped threads for the upper. On the upper you're limited by the radius as the plate goes over the top. The bottom is getting most of the stress anyway.

 

[Bossman429]

FYI- My bumper came with a welded tab. Not sure if mike switched to doing that on all bumpers but I don't think ill wee have to worry about this on mine. Which is nice!