Skid Plate bolts stripped. Now what?

Hey all.

So I my new Rogue Racing Revolver bumper just arrived and I went to start on the install only to discover that 3 of the 4 bolts on the engine skid plate are stripped and won't come out. I've never had the skid plate off so all I can think is they got screwed up at the factory or the shop that installed my long tubes stripped them out and didn't bother to tell me.

Regardless, here I am with my front bumper partially disassembled and no way to proceed any further. The Bolts go through the plate and into the frame. The bolts are tight to the plate but spin easily with the socket... almost like there's a nut free spinning on the other side. Short of cutting the bolt out (which I need for the install of the new bumper) I'm at a loss as to what to try. Even if I cut the bolt off and get a new one I'm worried it won't make a difference since it seems like the threaded part on the frame has broken free and I won't have anything to bolt to when I put the new bumper on.



Also... The rogue bumper looks very nice and well built, but...
1.) No instructions in the box. Had to find them online. :-|
2.) Said instructions have no pictures... Not that it's overly complicated but would a few illustrations of exactly how the various pieces of the bumper fit together kill them. :-\
3.) $50 for paint/color matching the Rogue Logo backing plate. Plate is easily interchangeable and could easily be wrapped in reflective vinyl for a hell of a lot cheaper and cooler looking effect. }:-\

All in all, pretty minor gripes.

Yep mine were stripped from factory. You can take the bolts off the cross members to get the skid plate off. Then you can try and stick a wrench down the side to grab the nut. I ended up cutting a hole above the nut to get a socket on it. They are clips and get a bag of them at the dealer, it was cheap, so was the replacement bolts.

I was able to get my skid off by prying near the bolt to keep tension on the nut.

grind it off

^^^what he said. Grind those ******* off and save yourself the time.

pics would help

Yeah.. I should've taken pics, but my phone wasn't handy and now i'm too lazy to walk out to the shop, so here's the next best thing (googled pics). ;-)

This is the skid plate I've already removed (no problems there).



The one with the stripped bolts is the one directly rear of that. Here's the best pic I could find on google with the 3 trouble nuts circled.


I've tried sticking a pry bar in where I can to get pressure on the bolt while trying to turn it out with no luck so far. I'll try getting a vice on it in the morning and pulling down on it while turning, though I'm not overly optimistic that's going to work. If all else fails I guess I'll have to grind the bastards, though I'm really not looking forward to doing that and then trying to drill and re-tap the holes 3 inches from my face while lying on my head.

Once those are off it should be relatively simple, though a parts layout diagram from Rogue would have been really helpful. Especially in terms of how the winch plate mounts in there. Oh well... I'm sure I'll figure it out. hahaha

Re-tap the holes? The same type nut clips that hold the front skid plate is the same nut clips that hold on the engine skid plate. You can buy a bag of nut clips and bolts for less than $20 or probably just re-use the ones you already took off up front.

I had the same problem, but I found ways to stick a open end wrench on to the nuts and take the bolts out.
Remove the oil drain window and you have free access to one of the nuts, after removing the front skit plate the next one should be no problem.

I wasn't aware they were nut clips. Only getting one off it's impossible to see exactly what I'm looking at. Does that mean there is a square slot on the bottom of the frame that allows the nut clips to be installed? If there is it's completely covered by the skid plate currently. As far as using the extra OEM bolts/clips It's hard to tell exactly what I have to reuse or not. the install instructions are a single typed page with a basic tool list and a number of steps that are borderline vague. Even just a part list with a references in the steps would be enough to clear it up. As is, I have two baggies of bolts, a couple of small brackets, a couple of large brackets/plates (possible skid and/or winch mount), the main skid (with Rogue logo), and the bumper itself.

Does the OEM engine skid even need to come off/be replaced with this bumper? I'm not even 100% on that, frankly.

Ughh... Maybe I just need to call Rogue in the morning to clarify somethings. (Need to call them anyway since they forgot to include the side panel dimple inserts for the bumper). Seriously... Why can't things ever just be simple?

---------- Post added at 11:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:37 PM ----------

PropDr said:

I had the same problem, but I found ways to stick a open end wrench on to the nuts and take the bolts out.
Remove the oil drain window and you have free access to one of the nuts, after removing the front skit plate the next one should be no problem.

Click to expand...

The front skid is already off. No problems there. The stripped bolts are on the Second one and I'll be damned if I can find anywhere to fit a wrench inside the frame tubing to get on the nut.