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Plates behind towball

S

Smith21

I am thinking of adding a protection plate for my bumper behind the towball. I have found the settings for the bolts but i was wanting to know is it ok to have the deflecting plate and the electrics plate together.
 
Hi Kevin
I use a SToStop protection plate. It's made from black powder coated aluminium and the two socket (12n and 12s) are mounted on it. The plate is about 8 mm thick so you may need slightly longer bolts. You will certainly need new locknuts or locking washers as these should only be used once. Should find one on ebay!
Mike
 
Thanks for the reply Mike and I know what type of plate you are on about but I have been given a plate but it does not have the holes for the electric sockets so the plate would have to go on with the plate for the sockets. Is it ok to have both plates on behind the towball.
 
Thought I would see if the bolts were set to the correct torque setting. So I set the torque wrench to 200Mn and the bolts slackened of without it clicking that's the experts not getting it right.

New bolts and nuts etc fitted and talked up to the correct setting, I am happy now.
 
I used a stainless plate with bumper protector & holes to mount the sockets , one each side. The holes were slotted so I didn't have to 'un-wire' the plugs to fit, I did need to grind off the small nuts & bolts that hold the sockets on though & cut / break away the old brakets.
I see no poblems with re-using the nuts & washers unless they are definatly 'single shot' like a hub nut. i've changed my hitch set up for various things & reused them. i just do the bolts up 'tight' with a 3 foot bar, never had one come loose.
i will admit if you cracked them off with a torque wrench set a 200lbs/ft & it didn't click they weren't tight enough!
Using a torque wrench to find the torque that a bolt was tightened to once its been exposed to the weather for some time is pointless as they will always take more to undo because of corrosion.But it does show if they were too loose!

Gareth
 
Yes, but if you are trying to discover the setting something was torqued up to you can use one.
Once it clicks you must stop pushing, thats what damages them.
 
I set the torque wrench at 200Nm and it didn't click they just slackened off, which indicates to me that the were less than 200Nm when fitted.
 
Gareth111278 said:
Agreed , they were less than 200nm , what's that in English (lb/ft)??
Click to expand...

200 newton meter = 147.512 429 46 pound foot
smiley-wink.gif
 
IMHO, I'd want them at a minimum of 150 lb/ft so they weren't tight enough.
Is there a recomended setting for them? I just use a spanner wedged behind the tow ball & my 3 foot 1/2 inch drive bar to haul on them as hard as a 15 stone bus mechanic can!
smiley-wink.gif
 
So after a quick look at the tables & if i remeber right that they are 8.8's
The maximum torque is 210Nm so you need 90% of that maximum, I'm not sure if I can pull that much, I think I can TBH as the torque wrench I used on my hub nuts [set at 290Nm] was about as long as my 'pull bar' & I did them OK.

Maybe I'm doing them over tight?
 
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