Mounted up my x8000i the other day and one thing's bugging me. I have tow hooks on the Heep and reused the bolts that came with the hooks to mount up the winch. There were about 1" of threads showing through the tow hook. Subtract 3/16" for the winch plate and another 1/8" for the stock bumper and I'm down to about 5/8" of thread engagement into the frame for the main mount bolts. There are 2 smaller bolts in the rear not going through the tow hooks that are no problem, fully threaded in.
I'm one of those paranoid people that triple checks everything. So should I be OK with the bolts I have, or go get some longer grade 5's to get thoughts of my winch ripping off out of my head?

Thanks all :beer:

go get some longer grade 5's to get thoughts of my winch ripping off out of my head?

Answered your own question there, mate :flipoff2:

Yes, you should replace them, but any reason you wouldn't use Grade 8 bolts???

yeah, go to 8's...some web wheelers will say the 5's will bend and the 8's will snap at the same force but they're full of welby...uh, I mean sheit...the 8's have better shear strength.
and is a cheap upgrade:flipoff2:

all the thread engagment you need is 1.5 times the diameter of the bolt, more than that and it's just for looks. So if they are just 3/8 bolts (which I hope they aren't) you're golden, otherwise you answered your own question. Grade 5, Grade 8 who cares, I doubt you'll bust either one if you keep 'em tight.

Easy

Originally posted by BillaVista


Answered your own question there, mate :flipoff2:

Yeah, sometimes I'm a bright one *tapping temple* :D :rolleyes:

Seeing as how the winch came with grade 5...and it's usually made from cast metal, there is not reason to get grade 8 bolts. The winch will stall long before the bolts will brake;)

Originally posted by Scout Dude
Seeing as how the winch came with grade 5...and it's usually made from cast metal, there is not reason to get grade 8 bolts. The winch will stall long before the bolts will brake;)

His grade 5 bolts came with his towhooks - must be steelhorse;) On mine it doesn't much matter what I use, grade 2 would be fine. Of course it's an 8274 so the bolts aren't really taking any load at all:flipoff2:

Originally posted by oldjeep


His grade 5 bolts came with his towhooks - must be steelhorse;)

They are :eek: Reason # 2 to be paranoid :D

I ordered them from Summit. As soon as I opened the box and saw that fawkin' horse logo, I said "Uh oh"..... I didn't even have to pay more for the "rust overnight" feature :rolleyes: :D

used 5's on my 8274, 8's to hold the winch carrier to the bumper, 8's to hold my bumper on. Too carried away you ask? maybe if you find something else that'll fall off.:smokin:

:flipoff2: gonna weld that shiet someday:flipoff2:

:usa: Just like Easy said,one and a half times the bolt dia. is what you need.Grade 5 will work just fine.

Not the 5 vs 8 can of worms again....

But I'd vote for 5 if there would be a lot of shear force on the bolts. Grade 5's have better reaction to shear and tend to pull apart after stretching a bit. Grade 8 are fairly brittle and design to be really strong in tension. The strength in tension cases them to fail violently when max shear is obtained. The 5's and 8 have really similar shear values but the 5's tend to stretch apart where the 8's just catastrophically fail.

2 cents YMMV

The strength in tension cases them to fail violently when max shear is obtained. The 5's and 8 have really similar shear values but the 5's tend to stretch apart where the 8's just catastrophically fail.

Ok. This is wrong. Pure and simple. wrong.

But I'm really interested in how or why you think this? Do you have any references, proof, physics, metalurgy to back it up? I'm curious as to how SWoooo many people can get this so wrong, when there are so many easy to read technical references that explain the truth.

Was it just something Bubba told ya?

Wierd...I'll never understand it.

Please!!!!!!!! Dont beat this winch bolt garbage to death again.:mad: