Stiffening plate removal / reinstallation

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by jontezan

If you have the aluminum one, you can unbolt 5/6 bolts turn it aside and let it hang on the last bolt. I am no Samuelson either, but managed to take the plate down lying under the car. Btw in sweden we dont use any jacks 😜


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

No jacks, sure, but I hope you at least used jack stands before getting under there.

[jontezan]

Originally Posted by Lamby

Its all that lovely clean Swedish air that does it for you! BTW, You are driving a BMW in Sweden? I am surprised you have not been run out of town, surely its Volvo and Saab only!? (I joke but I had a Saab and loved it).



So, there are different stiffening plates? I did some research and it seems this is the case, Also the stiffening plates have different designs in terms of the inside. Mine has two access holes and some sound insulation material on the inside which is great for nuts, bolts and washers to get lost in.



Joshdub - hahaha, dude you have to love the Schumer... did I just make you shiver again?



Happy friday y'all

Hahaha we have plenty of volvo and saab here. My better half drives an -07 9-5 2.3 biopower, and i drive a volvo v70 for the winter. But german cars are pretty common here 😄👍


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

[jontezan]

Originally Posted by oldskewel

No jacks, sure, but I hope you at least used jack stands before getting under there.

I always use jackstands before getting under the car 😄


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by oldskewel

While I generally agree with what you're saying here, there are some specific issues that I'll point out for anyone who might do this. (again, I just re-use mine, but I feel knowledgeable enough to do it carefully; others might not)

Grade 8 is not the same as (8.8). Grade 8 is used for rating SAE bolts. The equivalent rating for Metric would be Class 10.9. "Class" for Metric, "Grade" for SAE. Class 10.9 is what these BMW overpriced bolts are rated at. Grade 5 SAE bolts are similar in strength to Class 8.8. Grade 8 SAE ~ Class 10.9.

I would just stick with M10 10.9 bolts. And make sure you get the right thread pitch too, since that affects the actual bolt stretch that occurs when you torque or TTY them down.

Stainless - no, don't do that. Stainless will be weaker, and it seems clear BMW was concerned with a specific strength rating here. If it says 10.9 on the bolt, it will be what you want. If it does not, keep looking. Besides, unless you have one of the 1% of x5's without a perpetually oil-coated stiffening plate, you don't need to worry about corrosion.

Lock washers - I would not change anything like that (I don't recall there being lock washers on there originally). If there were any original washers, they can be re-used. Nuts and bolts, try to buy Class 10.9 ones that match in every way, but without the 700% markup.

Has anyone found a source for these that is not at least $9 each? I can easily find M10 1.5 10.9 Flanged Bolts for about $2-$3 dollars. Unfortunately, they are all 40, 45, 50, or 60 mm and not the OEM 55 mm size. In some of the locations, a 60 mm bolt will not interfere, but it feels like they will in one or two.

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by StephenVA

If the block and under parts were not cleaned off after all the work was done you can count on any leak will refresh the gunk and bleed oil residue all over. Solution brake clean buy 4 cans when you pull the plate.
There are two versions of this plate and depending on your assembly date yours is either nice shiny aluminum or black painted steel.
Some time in 2003 they switched.

If you are saying you used 4 cans of brake cleaner to clean the stiffening plate, then I would suggest that next time, get a bottle of dawn dish washing soap. I used about 4 drops mixed in water on my caked on grimy aluminum plate. It cleaned it like a champ.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

Has anyone found a source for these that is not at least $9 each? I can easily find M10 1.5 10.9 Flanged Bolts for about $2-$3 dollars. Unfortunately, they are all 40, 45, 50, or 60 mm and not the OEM 55 mm size. In some of the locations, a 60 mm bolt will not interfere, but it feels like they will in one or two.

Even though on the surface the cost seems ridiculous, since I don't know why they are the BMW spec and if anything else is the same spec, I pay the price. Seems logical the BMW engineers are the experts here.

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Even though on the surface the cost seems ridiculous, since I don't know why they are the BMW spec and if anything else is the same spec, I pay the price. Seems logical the BMW engineers are the experts here.

I came from an engineering school. Almost all my friends are civil, electrical, software and mechanical engineers. I had a few of the civil and mechanical engineers look over the bolts and they tell me that other than the size and the grade (10.9), there is absolutely nothing special about these bolts. They aren't even "stretch" bolts.

As I have looked around the net, I find that it is extremely difficult to find these bolts in a 55mm length with the class and flange. It seems to me the low volume is the thing that makes them expensive.

Like you (seem to be), I am also a "purist" in many ways and all of my cars are now well up in the years (my sports cars are a 88 and a 95) and if I have the need for parts, I always go to Mazda and in the case of the X5, BMW first.

But when I can find nothing special about a part such as a $35 molded hose (slight bend), or a $20 cellulose gasket, I feel like this is the time to go away from OEM because their primary goal in this case is not high quality, but to suction dollars from my pockets.

My local dealer seems especially adept at achieving this goal, having their parts sell at about 30% higher than other dealers in the area.

In this case, I read that some people prefer to get the OEM bolts, I also see that many have chosen to go with a-m or to reuse. But I have not read of any case where there was a catastrophic failure of the bolts.

I will take the vehicle out on the road a few times, if I get any indication that the car is not right, I will then look into replacing the bolts, but as I said in the other thread, with the mileage, I do believe the chances of me removing this plate again soon is not low, and a cost of $95 (out of curiosity, I decided after writing this post to check the price at the local dealer $18.65 [$111.90]) just to replace 6 seemingly non-special bolts without proof or indications from engineers I know that they MUST be replaced, I am going to join the "I'll take my chances" (for now) camp.

But as always, I do appreciate the input.

[cn90]

This has been discussed before.
I re-used the bolts, zero issues.
Don't overthink this or blindly follow the book.

These bolts are BIG.

BMW mechanics are dealer re-use these bolts.

[squidzilla]

My dealer does not stock these bolts. They always reuse them when removing the steel plate. I plan on reusing mine or if I lose some of them I will go to my bolt and nut store and get something close.

[dannyzabolotny]

I've removed the plate once and re-used the bolts, and most recently I removed the plate again— I plan to re-use the bolts again. I don't care what BMW says, these are regular bolts and will likely outlive the X5.