So not too far into the Nexterra/UNYX Old Flordia Rd run on Saturday my clutch died and I had to get towed out of the way of the trail...The recovery pointso n my Shrock bumper where used and the bolts the go in the front of the frame horns ripped clean out! They were the bolts supplied with the bumper...I dont understand...and the bumper bent downwards...Another Nexterra member almost had the saem thing happen to him while getting towed but his horns started to bow and looked like the bolts were bending out...Why is htis happening? any ideas...by the way I believe my frame horns are destroyed now and I may have to go the welding route...Not happy

Wait a second. Do you mean that the frame on the truck itself ripped and the bumper did not?

no...not quite...when he was being pulled, the bumper itself bent downwards a bit and then the grade 10 or whatever bolts that attach the bumper to the front of the frame horns stripped right out of horns so it was only attached by the side bolts...

How bout a pic or two to help illustrate the issue....

I wil lpost as soon as I get my X back from the dealer in Pittsfeild. Right now for me that is 2 hours away some I will ahve to wait since I am not driving up there jsut to take pics :p I have a few on my camera phone but dont know how to upload them. For now jsut think of it as if the side bolts are connected and the front ones arent. And on top of the the bumper is bent downwards towards the ground a little...well more than a little...

It sounds like the damage is to the ends of the frame horns...that the bumper was pulled down hard enough to make the bolts that go into the ends of the horns rip free.

IE: the horns broke, so the bolts came out when the bumper pulled on them.

I have trouble imagining this, as the three points per horn are kind of tied together, and its a 3/8" steel plate connecting them....so if one moves, they should ALL be moving...

One thing I can think of that would allow that kind of independance is if the holes were slotted, and then not adequately tightened to prevent slippage?

There's no way the 3/8" plate bent with a pull along its length/strongest orientation...so a pivot relative to the frame is all that can occur.

What's really odd is that those end points should not have had that much stress on them relative to the other points, in the first place on a recovery.

Unless, the frame ends themselves buckled inboard of the bumper, as in between the bumper, and the frame....

That would let the bumper fold down as described, but wouldn't explain the frame horn ends ripping independantly of other mountig point damage....

Those pics should help a lot...I'm guessing we'll see ripped frame horn ends based upon the above...and slots on the bumper or frame rail where the bumper was attached....and/or, a structural failure of the frame itself, between the bumper and the rest of the frame.

At least it will be interesting from a forensic stand point.

Ok...no damage to the frame horns from what I can see at all. Let me try one more time...I guess it is harder than I thoguth to imagine this. Think of your ordinary Shrockworks bumper. Ok the front bolts got ripped out of the threads (no damage to the horns except maybe teh threads inside but I didnt have a chance to pull the skid off and look :p ). Now imagine the bumper pulled forward enough so that there is about 1/4" or so of space between the front mounting points and the end of the frame horn itself (so its just liek it was mounted to far forward) Now picture that but the bumper tilted in a downwards position. Again it probably is hard to picture but there was no visible damamge the the frame. The only thing Icould think of is that I got the bumper for the 2" BL version. Becasue fo this the mounting holes on the sides are slightly more oval/longer than regular ones would be. If they weren't tightened down enough then i could see how it may have happened. But they were tightened almost as tight as the shifter is . I don't see how there could have been that much play with the bumper.

OK - now its more confusing....the frame is intact, and the bolts came out...?

You say the bumper is tilted down, but not why or from what points....so it is hard to picture how it tilts w/o the frame horns tilting...unless you bent the bumper itself, which sounds impossible in that plane....

Maybe the bolts failed, letting the mounts break free?

We really need those pics.

So it's not the bumper that broke, it's the bolts that stripped out? What did the threads on the bolts look like? I have not seen the horns on the Xterra, but there are many ways to fix the holes without needing to weld. The sad part is it sounds like the bumper is now deformed. I hope it matches back up.

Just curious, what were the bolts torqued to? I don't know if Shrock has suggested torque specs, but I would treat it like a tow hitch (since it is a recovery point) and torque them down to no less than 70ft. lbs. or so.

Also, when you were being pulled off the trail (or any past recoveries using the bumper) were you being jerked? If the bolts were not tight the extra jerking could have weakened the threads.

i'll let him anwser since its his truck, but from my point of view, the recovery didn't seem to involve any jerking, at night, a group of us had to push the truck backwards out of the trail, we were on the shrock bumper pushing, and it would pivot up and down, we stayed clear incase it let go and dropped on our feet, but it was strange, ok that was my point of view from pushing on the front

Not sure what happened from the description....

There is almost no force on the bumper itself when pulling from the recovery points...they bolt directly back to the frame through a piece of 3/8" plate on edge. No way it can bend in that orientation. If the side bolts aren't tightened fully, most of the load goes to the horn ends. If the frame horn end let go on one side only, that would put a torsional (twisting) load on the bumper though....

Unfortunately the frames on these trucks in this area are not very strong. Problems seem to be very rare, but there is something you can do to prevent it. There are two extra round holes per side in the bumper mounting brackets. Drilling these holes all the way through the frame with a 3/8" bit and using 3/8" bolts all the way through the frame will take most of the load off the horn ends and give two additional un-slotted attachment points. These holes are positioned toward the edge of the frame so that crushing the frame when tightening the bolts is not an issue.

I just read this part. If the bumper was moving while pushing on it, the bolts twere extremely loose...that would do it.

Regardless of why, give me a call cobain913 and I'll work with you to get you a usable bumper again for minimal expense.

Jim,

Slightly unrelated, are there any torque specs you suggest for the bumpers?

The instructions for the 1st gen state 50-55 ft-lbs. The bumper for your 2005 will be different since it has four M12 bolts vs the three M10 on the 1st gen.

This sounds like the threads simply pulled out of the ends of the frame horns and the bumper rotated down a bit. If the threads did pull out the ends, it *would* rotate down and point downward some bec the side bolt holes are slotted. Are you sure the bumper is bent and not just pointing down? It certainly doesn't sound like the bumper "broke" ...

No Jim. I don't thin the bumper broke but the bolts certainly got puleld out of the frame horns...The thread on the bolts looked ok but there was al ittle bit of metal surrounding them...No deformaty to the threads on the bolt themselves though. The bumper itself I don't think bent either. I am jsut concerend about how I am goign to get the bumper in its correct position again if the frame horn threads are stripped. The bumper is definately tilting down becasue as mud4x4 said, when they guys were pushing me it would move up and down...This may have been since the bumper was puleld forward and out and gave it the play there. I will check to see if the bolts on the sides were loosened when I go to pick it up. If this is the case then there maybe damage all around on the threads to my frame horns. But trust me...Those bolts were tightened down like hell.

We can speculate all day about what could/mighthave/ think happened... We really need to see the pics of the frame horns/ shrock mounting points to even begin to speculate. For all we know he was using a 12k winch and ripped the bugger off at the bolts.... No offense but before shrock should be brought into this, the situation needs to be evaluated better than just hear say. Just me being a cynic (sp?) I dont mean to insult but ive worked in retail too... and you cant really trust what the customer says all the time.

I can also add, since I was the one pulling him, there was no jerking involved. We were using a tow strap, not a chain. All the sudden, people yelled, "Stop," and the bumper was pulled down.

On Jim's bumper, the front bolts pulled out of the frame horn.

As those of you who were there know, I used my winch more times than I can count that day. My Shrock bumper didn't move. I also banged the hell out of it climbing up those two rock faces...still it did not move.

"Those bolts were tightened down like hell."

Still just speculating, but evertightened bolts are as bad as loose one. If you tighten them enough, it only takes just a bit more force to strip out or break them.

If you send some pics, I'll try to help you come up with a plan. If it works out like you said, bolts pulled out and bumper and frame arent bent, it shouldnt be hard to get rollong again.

Hey Jim. Why so low?

Can't he just torque the ever-living sh!t out of them?

So, it sounds like the factory threads in the frame stripped out. How does that make the bumper broken? The threads in the frame aren't that strong, that's why a lot of people just drill through and put longer bolts in with nuts on the end. Maybe it's time you do that?

I'm guessing so and that is probably going to be the plan...unless i decide to weld the bumper higher to correct the hieght (which I know doesn't do anyhting for approach angle yada yada yada becasue of the frame horns remaining the same height). Unfortunately I can't ahve pics for anyone until the dealer has fixed my clutch situation. And I don't feel liek driving 2 hours out of state jsut to go take a few pics, sorry! But there is nothing to see...It's jsut the bolts ripped out of the horns and the bumper is not bent but it just got titled down significantly...why is this so hard so visualize? maybe its easier for everyone who was there becasue they all saw it but for those of you who did am I explaining it differently thaan it is?

See your thread title... All im saying is you jumped to conclusions without first finding out the facts. Now everyone drew their own conclusions with the sporatic and conflicting information you provided. You need to deal directly with shrock to find out what happend and when you reach a definitive "My bumper really did break" then you can post something claiming so. Its obvious shrock wants to work with you on this.

From what I saw, the bolts broke. The top bolts on the horn broke and the welded in nuts on the front of the horns (actually that box part) pulled out of the frame horns. I don't think the bumper broke at all. Stange thing is, I have pulled like hell on that front bumper. Probably 20 times that day alone, with no problems. I wasn't pulling you all that hard. At least it didn't seem so.