[Pirate]

There have been lots of complaints about how hard it is to get the two piece nuts, that are inside the rectangular frame tube, to stay together and then how the plastic bolt covers stick out and disappear.

I've figured out the requirement to keep the nuts together and will post that info in a bit.

In this post I'll cover my solution to losing the plastic bolt covers. Had two of them disappear at the Lost River - Rally in the Pines and thought about how I could make sure they stay put!

And yes, I'm retired, have my own pretty well equipped shop and enjoy a challenge. One thing I learned today, the bolts are M8 x 1.25

So here we go: first I scribed across the corners of the bolt head to identify the center.

Then clamped the bolt in the drill press vise and used the laser pointer to align the drill head and the center of the bolt head:

Drilled the bolt with a #29 bit to tap for 8-32 threads. Drilled the hole 1/8" deeper than the length of the screw to assure the threads would be tapped a bit longer than the screw:

Clamped the drilled bolt in rubber vise jaws, but to get it to stay put for tapping...I wound up putting the open end of a wrench over the bolt and clamping the wrench to the vise. That was easy, and holds the bolt very stable without damaging the threads:

Here's the bolt reinstalled in the rock slider:

And here's the plastic cover in place, 8-32 chrome screw and chrome washer in place. Just a tad bit of blue loctite on the screw, and its done.

Took about 15 minutes per bolt. Totally unnecessary, but I took on the challenge and I think they look pretty good and won't disappear out on the trail!

Pirate:nerd:

 

[Racerfromhell]

Looks like you are testing the limits of your rock sliders...... nice work

 

[Pirate]

Polaris didn't do a good job of the design of the bolts for the rock sliders...but I figured it out, made a special wrench to hold the two piece "nut" so that I could tighten these bolts and pull the two pieces of the nut completely together.

Then the "plugs" fall out...I lost two at the first rally we took the General to...so I came home, ordered the "plugs" and did this to the bolts so I wouldn't lose the "plugs" again.

Working very well. Have a bit over 1000 miles...ain't lost another one yet. And gives my brain a good workout figuring out how to drill and tap the bolt heads.

Thanks for the complement!

Pirate

 

[philbricks]

Do you know where to get the replacement nuts???

There have been lots of complaints about how hard it is to get the two piece nuts, that are inside the rectangular frame tube, to stay together and then how the plastic bolt covers stick out and disappear.

I've figured out the requirement to keep the nuts together and will post that info in a bit.

In this post I'll cover my solution to losing the plastic bolt covers. Had two of them disappear at the Lost River - Rally in the Pines and thought about how I could make sure they stay put!

And yes, I'm retired, have my own pretty well equipped shop and enjoy a challenge. One thing I learned today, the bolts are M8 x 1.25

So here we go: first I scribed across the corners of the bolt head to identify the center.

Then clamped the bolt in the drill press vise and used the laser pointer to align the drill head and the center of the bolt head:

Drilled the bolt with a #29 bit to tap for 8-32 threads. Drilled the hole 1/8" deeper than the length of the screw to assure the threads would be tapped a bit longer than the screw:

Clamped the drilled bolt in rubber vise jaws, but to get it to stay put for tapping...I wound up putting the open end of a wrench over the bolt and clamping the wrench to the vise. That was easy, and holds the bolt very stable without damaging the threads:

Here's the bolt reinstalled in the rock slider:

And here's the plastic cover in place, 8-32 chrome screw and chrome washer in place. Just a tad bit of blue loctite on the screw, and its done.

Took about 15 minutes per bolt. Totally unnecessary, but I took on the challenge and I think they look pretty good and won't disappear out on the trail!

Pirate:nerd:

 

[twodogs]

Used "Rivnuts" on my install.

 

[dsmonline]

Used "Rivnuts" on my install.

I ordered mine from Allied PowerSports: UTV Nerf Bars Replacement Expansion Bolts | Allied Powersports

$5.00 each. I got a bag of 6 for $30.00 plus $3.50 shipping. If you get them from Polaris, they cost more than twice as much and you have to order them in a bag of 4, so if you want 6, order two bags. Stupid

 

[GeneralMac]

When I bought mine, they came in a bag of 6. It was a bolt kit just for that purpose - from my Polaris dealer. Caps on the bolts? Meh, who needs them.

 

[twenty5]

I couldn't get my caps to stay in when I installed the slider so I just left them out, except for the really deep one. I might still have them.