Gas tank skid install problems....am I just a moron?

Cameraflage · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:54 am

Greetings all.

So here's the deal. I picked up a Mopar gas tank skid plate for my '06 Liberty yesterday from my local dealership (fortunately one that was not forced out of business.) I get it home, tear into the box and find the giant tank cover, a bag of six bolts and a set of absolutely minimalist instructions. No biggie.

I backed my Jeep up onto a set of ramps so that I could get my fat booty under the vehicle with room to work, then came up with a little rig to hold the skid plate more or less in place while I put in the bolts.

Now I encounter a problem. The bolts seem to be too big to thread into the holes in the frame. The bolts go in just enough to seat, but for the life of me I could not get any of the bolts to thread all the way in. Here are the bolts in question...

The only numbers on the bolts apparently refer to the hardness of the metal. The bolt head is 18mm, and a 1/2" nut almost goes onto the end (although the threads were different.) Is this a half-inch bolt, or maybe 12mm?

As I mentioned, the instructions were pretty much useless...about a dozen sheets in various languages telling me "raise skid plate...install 6 bolts...torque to 55-75 ft-lbs" (or, for our Norwegian friends out there, "hev glideplaten, monter 6 bolter, trekk til med 75-90 Nm.") Nowhere on the sheet does it mention what size the bolts are or even what size socket it used to drive them in.

The skid plate itself lines up just fine (although one of the bolt holes is right above the exhaust pipe, which might make installation a bit more of a challenge than I've already described.) This view is of the right side of the tank, with the front of the vehicle to the top:

So, with all this in mind, I pose this question: Is it likely that some overpaid Canadian Mopar worker put the wrong size bolts in the box, or is it more likely that I'm just a 98-pound weakling who is just waiting for some steroid-addled bodybuilder to kick sand in my face? And if the aforementioned Canadian Mopar worker did screw up, then what size bolts do I need?

(We are currently at T-minus 40 days and counting to the Great Moab and Ouray Expedition of Ought Nine, so I have the entire month of August to figure this out.)

Cameraflage · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:01 pm

Apparently my html-fu is weaker than my bolt-tightening arm. Here's the instructions

TAHOE · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:59 pm

Most likely the threaded holes in frame have rusted enough that you can't ge teh bolts started. 12mmx1.75 sounds right as that 's what I got when I installed my hitch. I had to use a tap to retap the holes before the bolts would even think about threading in, then I used an impact to drive them on in as they were still tough. Good luck.

Boiler · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:08 pm

We were working on my gas tank skid concept yesterday and ran into some seriously rusted 12 x 1.75 holes in my rails too.

We used a thread chaser to clean out the ones where my tow hook was originally sitting and all the bolts. Then Tony started the first rusty hole and SNAPPED OFF his SNAP ON thread chaser...he was a little annoyed with me pointing out the irony...

He tried to weld on a nut to turn it back out, but like I figured, weld is weaker than a tool shaft...and it broke immediately. We're just going to try to drill it out and if that doesn't work, I'm thinking we'll just break the nutsert out with a BFH and weld a nut in there.

Trying to use an easy-out seems kind of stupid, considering much larger diameter things are snapping off in there....

Long, "Amos & Andrew"-like story short....Yes, they are 12x1.75, and they are rusted beyond all recognition. Use a TAP and re create the threads through the rust. I'll have to remember to send a tap along with my skids....

My final recommendation would be to completely coat the threads in anti-seize. This way when about 1-1/2 inches of the bolt sits up past the frame into the air, it is coated and doesn't just rust away, making them near impossible to get out. I worked up a good sweat taking 6 of these bolts off someone elses jeep the other day. I had to have a breaker bar on the ratchet just about the entire length of the bolt. What a PITA. Tony took my hook off with an impact wrench and it clacked away the entire length of the bolt.

WickedKJ · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:09 pm

Spray a little PB Blaster. :wink:

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:16 pm

it is simple to install , so no real directions are needed, but like everyone has pointed out , just normal rust , PB Blaster and thread chaser and you should be good to go.

Now you should of gotten a Kilby skid, and then try holding that up along with the hitch and starting everything :roll:

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 7:20 pm

i use stuff called 'free all' and it works outstandingly for eating rust out of holes.

"SNAPPED OFF the SNAP ON"

:lol:

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:48 pm

2006 KJ wrote:

i use stuff called 'free all' and it works outstandingly for eating rust out of holes.

"SNAPPED OFF the SNAP ON"

:lol:

I need some of that stuff that "eats rust out of holes " where did you find it at :wink:

Guest · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:54 pm

tommudd wrote:

I need some of that stuff that "eats rust out of holes " where did you find it at :wink:

ThunderbirdJunkie could've used that for his last girlf...nevermind

Boiler · **Posted:** Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:07 am

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

tommudd wrote:

I need some of that stuff that "eats rust out of holes " where did you find it at :wink:

ThunderbirdJunkie could've used that for his last girlf...nevermind

You build her in shop class?

Guest · **Posted:** Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:55 am

No, if ThunderbirdJunkie did that, he would have been able to tell her what to do like a GOOD woman :shock:

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Mon Aug 03, 2009 6:27 pm

TAHOE · **Posted:** Mon Aug 03, 2009 9:03 pm

Boiler wrote:

You build her in shop class?

She probably came in a box with a small air pump..... :twisted:

daspes · **Posted:** Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:35 pm

TAHOE wrote:

Boiler wrote:

You build her in shop class?

She probably came in a box with a small air pump..... :twisted:

Uhhh, I mean

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:51 am

TAHOE wrote:

Boiler wrote:

You build her in shop class?

She probably came in a box with a small air pump..... :twisted:

Pfft. When ThunderbirdJunkie requires an inflate-a-date, he just borrows yours, Marty

TAHOE · **Posted:** Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:28 am

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

TAHOE wrote:

Boiler wrote:

You build her in shop class?

She probably came in a box with a small air pump..... :twisted:

Pfft. When ThunderbirdJunkie requires an inflate-a-date, he just borrows yours, Marty

Nope, got a wife for that ole boy!!... and by the way just for some info for ya'll, I was told by a coworker and didn't believe him, ...someting happens when they hit 40, can't keep her off me.

SSSooooo Cameraflage, how's that skid plate going?

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:52 am

TAHOE wrote:

Nope, got a wife for that ole boy!!... and by the way just for some info for ya'll, I was told by a coworker and didn't believe him, ...someting happens when they hit 40, can't keep her off me.

All her boyfriends lost interest? :twisted:

TAHOE · **Posted:** Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:30 pm

Boiler wrote:

TAHOE wrote:

Nope, got a wife for that ole boy!!... and by the way just for some info for ya'll, I was told by a coworker and didn't believe him, ...someting happens when they hit 40, can't keep her off me.

All her boyfriends lost interest? :twisted:

hey, we are supposed to pick on TBJ, now you b turning on me....

Hey, more power to them if they were gettin some... must've liked a short heavy honey!

Gas tank skid install problems....am I just a moron?

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