License plate mounting

Is there anyway to change how the rear plate is mounted to the bumper, or make it more secure. One of my plastic bolt holes is half stripped before I even bought it.

 

You should be able to just use a nut, bolt and washer. Drill the holes bigger if you need to. There's nothing preventing you from accessing the back of the license plate if you crawl underneath the truck.

 

The original part (52159-0C010) has two basic holes in it, as you'll see below. Once you overtighten, that's it, the hole is blown. If you had a square punch, you could punch square holes and use something like Dorman 785-107 inserted into the thing. Or you could nut & washer the thing. Or you could use a slightly larger screw as long as it wasn't too large for the hole. Or buy a new plastic insert.

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Longer bolt and put a nut on the back.

 

I think I might model a bracket to hold the nut in place. The bracket would just double side tape to the back of the insert. So I can easily pull the plate without dealing with holding the nuts. Best way to do it would probably plastic weld but I don't wanna do anything too permanent yet. I didn't realize I could get directly behind the plastic.

 

Any insertable nut would work but the ideal fastener would either clip on, melt or glue in, or snap in, and not be round so there’s a risk of spinning.

 

I have threaded inserts but I don't wanna do anything too permanent. So I'll just do VHB and if I like it I'll plastic weld.

 

I also know if I use inserts I will probably mess one up I always do.

 

If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got...try something new.

 

That's why I'm trying something more complicated than needed. I always end up doing better when I choose the harder way. It makes me go slower and work smarter.

 

Were it me I'd go for the square hole inserts. Drill a round hole then use a small file to make it square.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking. And I actually may do this on mine. But I'm pretty sure I have a Greenlee square KO punch set that'll pop those round holes to square that may work. I'll hafta figure it out. Gotta dig out the punch kit first.

Your pics look exactly like what Dorman sells in their 785-107 kit.

 

Gorilla tape on the back works great in an emergency. Seems to hold forever. (yes, this is the voice of my experience)

 

One trick when a hole is stripped out in a piece of wood, for example screws in a door hinge, is to put a bit of glue on a toothpick, put it in the hole and cut it flush. Once it dries in there, it gives plenty of 'new bite' for the screw. They make plastic toothpicks too. Dab a bit of glue on it, put it in the hole and cut it flush. That may well give you plenty of bite to reattach the license plate screw.

 

I think I may also drill out the other holes so I have 4 bolts instead of 2.

 

I hear what you're saying, but I'd also doublecheck they line up with the holes in the license plate. I think those are actually standoffs, not undrilled provisions. If you can't currently see them thru the license plate holes, then don't drill them

 

Yeah I was going to mark them with the plate on.