trailer hitch receiver mounting bolt reality check

i'm relatively new to tundras and been mostly a lurker on the site. recently replaced my bumper and had to pull off the oem hitch receiver as part of the process. it seems the two most forward bolts on the frame rail for the hitch receiver are just to assist with mounting, they do not do anything to secure the receiver to the frame rails. i say this because the receiver has slots in this location to hook those bolts during installation. i wasn't able to get those two bolts tight as one seized up in the frame rail. just confirm those two bolts don't offer structural integrity?

 

Even if they are in slotted holes, having them tightened would add rigidity. If your real question is "can I cut these off and not replace them?" I would say the answer is no. It needs to be in the stock configuration if you want to have the rated capability.

 

Why not just run a tap followed by new bolts into the holes? A little oil goes a long way!

 

thanks. no, i wasn't going to cut it off, i was just going to leave the driver's side not bottomed. it is pretty seized. a real pita with a breaker bar and impact driver. the damnest thing is i don't think it is cross threaded as i started it by hand. i had used a bunch of pb blaster when removing it so there was plenty of lube.

as suggested by 2mchfun, i'll have to pull it out and chase the threads.

 

I had to pull those when I installed my rear sway bar.
It did take a little work to get them out.