RLC rear tire carrier / swing out / jerry can / custom fab bumper

[DPA200]

@grinchy i will. Ill Do it today.

I'm quite curious to see as well, as this wing bracket hole issue was what really sent my install off the rails. would really like to see if the bolt holes in your wing brackets are the same as mine shown

 

[grinchy]

After completely taking the wing brackets off, and loosening up all the hitch bolts for play, the holes in the frame did not match up with the holes in the wing brackets. i tried switching the left and right bracket, that didn't work as the passenger bracket then hits the plastic fender molding so you cant even line up the holes.

Can you point out or picture where the interference was on the passenger side? I ask because it looks like this is how @KLF installed.

 

[DPA200]

Can you point out or picture where the interference was on the passenger side? I ask because it looks like this is how @KLF installed.

see attached pics viewed front back and front, both on passenger side. This was the reason i couldn't just swap the left and right side wing brackets. The vertical metal part of the wing bracket hits this plastic fender molding on passenger side. So basically you can't get the bracket far enough forward to line up with the frame holes as the plastic blocks it. @KLF i believe is the only one i saw that had his brackets mounted this way (left and right swapped vs others). This woulda made my frame holes line up with bracket holes, but not sure how he got around this passenger side plastic interference.

 

[grinchy]

I'm beginning to think the hypothesis around the mounting plate orientation getting swapped some time over the years is gaining traction.

 

[Willy beamin]

Passenger side first. Pardon my mess. Apparently i didnt clean out the muck very well last outing.

 

[Willy beamin]

Now driver side

 

[DPA200]

Now driver side

View attachment 2019930

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well that's quite interesting. That looks more the way mine are mounted, with the top of the bracket lining up with the top of the frame rail (instead of the bottom like most other install's). Are you brackets only mounted to the frame with just one large 5/8" bolt, or is there a secondary smaller bolt i can't see in the pics? Same orientation of left/right sides as me and others so thats good. Now i'm curious what your plastic body cut measurements are. If you have time to take those 2 measurements at some point

 

[grinchy]

yeah, and those nut plates are not in the picture . . .

 

[DPA200]

yeah, and those nut plates are not in the picture . . .

good point, wonder when and why those came into play

 

[grinchy]

I don't think you "Bungled". Either that, or we both did. I've taken this on and off so much now, i really can't see another way i could mount this. I'm wondering if different year trucks possibly have the holes drilled in different parts of the frame? I wouldn't imagine the wing mount brackets could be drilled wrong. Anyways, end of last week i went in determined it'd be an easy fix and that all i needed to do was move the wing brackets down to the 2 lowest holes. After completely taking the wing brackets off, and loosening up all the hitch bolts for play, the holes in the frame did not match up with the holes in the wing brackets. i tried switching the left and right bracket, that didn't work as the passenger bracket then hits the plastic fender molding so you cant even line up the holes.

View attachment 2019391

So, after a few frustrating hours i thought, well, Maybe the master bolt count man @grinchy was onto something. if i have a hole big enough to fit a huge 4" x 5/8" bolt, how could this not be better to use it than 2 smaller bolts? Bigger is more better no? So, i used the large hole for the 5/8", smaller hole for 3/8", and just did a workaround. As some had originally mentioned the spacer idea, i put my wing brackets mounted up at the top edge of frame like i had them. I them went and bought four 3/8" x 2.5" (i think) M8 bolts, nuts, washers, and lock washers. The key was then Ace had these perfect fitting 1" tall stainless bushings (with 3/8" holes in them) to use in the middle as spacers. Now i wont say these were east in any way to jam a 1" spacer in there, but eventually i got them all in with a crowbar to flex apart the bracket from bumper, and a very important magnet to hold the nut to get the threads to catch eventually.

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View attachment 2019383


End result, as high and tight as it could be mounted, as level as could be. I'm happy with it. Just thought I'd post in case anybody else runs into this same wing bracket hole/lineup mounting problem

spacing i ended up with about 5.25" up front, about 9.25" in the rear. My plastic is now completely NOT cut correct. But whatever for now, and maybe I'll find a salvage bumper cover in the future to re-trim.

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View attachment 2019388

You didn't reuse the nut plate with the bushings/spacers?

 

[DPA200]

You didn't reuse the nut plate with the bushings/spacers?

no i didn't. before i found those 1" bushings, i just had a pile of 7 washers in 1 of the 2 holes as my spacer (late night temp solution just to see if the spacer idea worked). That top nut was a Bit#@ to get on as you cant get your hand or a socket in there because of that metal wing on the body. So, after i got the bushings i loosened the temp nut with the washers, but left in to keep the spacing while i got my bushing in and secured that bolt. I then went and took my temp washers out and replaced with my M8 and bushing on 2nd hole. So, long boring story short, i didn't use the 2 nut plate because i had to do the 2 nuts at separate times.

 

[Willy beamin]

@DPA200
Cut Plastic measurements

 

[Willy beamin]

Tape foot Is resting On the bumper in every shot

 

[grinchy]

Tape foot Is resting On the bumper in every shot

Interesting. Looks like we have it as James designed.

 

[DPA200]

Interesting. Looks like we have it as James designed.

crazy, it does appear that way. I still wonder at what point in the process he started shipping those welded nut plates then.

I'm also wondering now if part or all of my crooked issue wasn't the wing brackets, maybe i just had the bumper itself mounted crooked. it was about 105 degrees out on the original install day. Now that i have it level and tight, i wonder if i just took the wing bushing/spacers out (but left the bumper hitch bolts tight), if it'd just bring the wings up but the back of bumper would stay level? Might be worth a shot, then my plastic wouldn't be so far off. I'll probably just leave it for now, got a Colorado trip coming up soon and have too many other things to get ready before then. Other than the crooked plastic, i like the look with the level wings.

 

[RET2]

crazy, it does appear that way. I still wonder at what point in the process he started shipping those welded nut plates then.

I'm also wondering now if part or all of my crooked issue wasn't the wing brackets, maybe i just had the bumper itself mounted crooked. it was about 105 degrees out on the original install day. Now that i have it level and tight, i wonder if i just took the wing bushing/spacers out (but left the bumper hitch bolts tight), if it'd just bring the wings up but the back of bumper would stay level? Might be worth a shot, then my plastic wouldn't be so far off. I'll probably just leave it for now, got a Colorado trip coming up soon and have too many other things to get ready before then. Other than the crooked plastic, i like the look with the level wings.

The whole level issue is a can of worms. The existing trim part isn't level, next most vehicles are butt high so what really defines level in context of bumper install? Does one line the bumper up with floor level or match truck slope or trim angle?

 

[DPA200]

The whole level issue is a can of worms. The existing trim part isn't level, next most vehicles are butt high so what really defines level in context of bumper install? Does one line the bumper up with floor level or match truck slope or trim angle?

Totally agree there is no absolute level to even measure. My situtaion was after 1st install i was more "not level" than anybody else. For me though, the part that bothered me was my big 3 can jerry basket, and my swing arms were so "not level" that they looked like they were falling off the back. So in the end for me now that i have it the way i like it, the jerry basket is visually level with the ground. I might have gone even a bit too far with mine due to the bushing/spacers, but other than my trimmed plastic issue i like the way it hangs.

 

[RET2]

I feel your pain, in fact I was so concerned that I drove around for 2 weeks without cutting and reinstalling the side panel pieces to allow for any settling or needed adjustments.

 

[DPA200]

your post where you said that was stuck in my head. I thought i was being cautious, i drive around for close to 1 week naked before i cut mine. Made my kids leave the room and measured about 5x. i then cut to exact measurement 1st, test fit to see it rested right on the bumper. then went back and cut 9/16" off. didn't notice how extreme the angle was til i sent a completed photo to my buddy. oh well

 

[RET2]

Mea Culpa, I still haven't unboxed the RW's you sold me.