Spare wheel holder captive bolt removal

[alex_p]

Had a puncture on Monday, put the spare on without issue on Tuesday and went to get a new tyre.

The tyre place put the alloy back on for me and I chucked the spare in the back.

When I went to put the spare away, the captive bolt appears to have cross threaded or stripped and now won’t do up fully… odd thing was it undid easily and wound back in without effort the first time, van is 2yrs old and spare has never been on!

Has anyone ever replaced one or taken the spare holder bracket off?!

 

[BikerPa]

If it’s anything like mine (a late 20’ van) it’s the captive nut that’s spinning in the bracket so the bolt won’t do up. If you hold the captive nut it should do up. You will also need to hold it to undo until it’s re-fixed.

It has a couple of crappy spot welds that simply fail very easily. Mine did it @ under a year old.

 

[alex_p]

Thanks - I’d not thought the nut might spin - will have another look, although am pretty sure it was locking up as opposed rotating freely…

If this isn’t the issue, it has alerted me to not really over tightening the bolt, as the spot welds might break, and then I’ll be worse off than now!

 

[DXX]

Are you sure the two spacers are still in place? The bolt is part threaded so it will only tighten until the end of the thread.
If you remove the bolt you’ll see if the thread is damaged, if it is you’ll need to run a tap through the nut and a die over the bolt.

 

[alex_p]

Thanks - is that a 6.1? From memory, mine didn’t have spacers and the non-captive bolt does up fully flush…

Unfortunately it’s the captive bolt, which seems to have a “barbed“ top on, which is damaged, and I can’t see how to remove either the mount or the barbed hat that keeps it in place when undone fully - hence I can’t run a tap up the hole or a die over the bolt…

 

[alex_p]

Just seen a picture of a replacement captive bolt, which is fully threaded, and it has “flaps” at the top I might be able to knock flat enough with a hammer and punch to allow the bolt to come out… Will have another look!

 

[Jollyvan]

As per @DXX above. I seem to remember that you can remove the barb and take the bolt out. The tyre company crossed the thread on mine using a windy gun to do up the carrier. Run a tap & die on the bolt and nut and you will sort it . They are very soft.

 

[alex_p]

Thanks - will see what I can do to remove the barbed cap when I can lie on the drive without drowning!

I can only guess I had some grit in the bolt thread which damaged it halfway up…

 

[Pauly]

Sometimes you just need to lift the carrier so you can push the bolt in to engage the threads, have you tried doing it up without the carrier ?

 

[alex_p]

Sometimes you just need to lift the carrier so you can push the bolt in to engage the threads, have you tried doing it up without the carrier ?

Yep, it starts beautifully and goes up about 1/4 of the treaded section, then locks…

 

[ahobden]

So I have the same issue, the retaining bolt is cross threaded and wound to the max in the carrier, I'm a little loathed to undo it until I have a replacement bolt, which I've ordered. Does anyone know the thread side so that I can get hold of the correct tap to rethread the bolt please? Many thanks

 

[Podge]

On my T5 when I had the same problem. I got the new bolt online and found a nut that worked from my box of nuts and bolts. I had to grind off the original nut which was originally spot welded on. I just mig welded the new nut in place.

 

[Podge]

There is this but I think you would still have to spot weld it in place.

 

[ahobden]

Thank you for that, I'll take a look