Rock Warrior stripped threads (1 Viewer)

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Feb 21, 2020
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New Hampshire
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www.discreetballistics.com
Just picked up a set of 4 RW wheels for my '13 LX and had some 285/75/17 Nitto Trail Grapplers mounted. Very satisfied with the look and feel off road compared to the 20" OEM.

I'm driving along and I start hearing a slight clanging and sure enough the front driver's side ring is loose in one section - maybe a couple MM deflection. Get my Torx drive and start trying to screw them in and they aren't engaging any of the threads. Turns out 5 or 6 on this wheel are in this state. The screws look alright but they all had a lot of aluminum corrosion. I checked the other three rings and they all appear securely attached. Is a helicoil my only option at this point? If so does anyone know the thread pitch of these screws - M9 seemed close but I wasn't sure. Any other ideas on what to do at this point would be very welcome! Thanks in advance!
 
I have no skill at replacing stripped out threads, but...

Pretty sure they are m8 and I think fine thread, meaning M8-1.0

I have never used, or even seen it used, but remember and old mechanic telling me about filling the hole with aluminum brazing rod material then drill and tap. I looked for info on that today and found an alternative. This still uses the brazing rod, but doesn't require the drill & tap routine. No idea if this is really better/easier, etc.
 
I have a couple of my set with the same condition. Since it's only 2, I went ahead and put some Locktite and secure it in place for since its only for look. But if it ever gets worse, I probably go one thread size up and replace it with stainless steel marine bolts.
 
Do you plan to ever remove the rock rings? If not - you could probably get away with just epoxy in the holes, stick the bolt in, and clamp the ring on until it cures. Some epoxies are strong enough that they'll tear out the aluminum before the epoxy fails.

You can form threads that would probably work with brazing rod - there's a lot of youtube guides. I think you're going to end up doing a bit of damage to the clear coat on the wheels though. The heat you need to melt the brazing rod will almost certainly also melt or yellow/brown the clear coat finish. I don't think it'll work well as far as adhesion of the brazing rod without heating up the wheel aluminum.

I think the only other easy option is to drill out the holes and go up to a M10 machine screw size. The hard part is threading them in a dead end hole. You'll need a special tap set for threads all the way down.
 
Personally, I'd helicoil them. It's not that hard, and you shouldn't have any further issues.
 

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