Holy Gawd- Under ride protection install

[Gixxerboy63]

Welcome to the exclusive underride protection club! Yes, they are very rare and are becoming hard to find. I had only seen them in photographs until I bought mine... Lucky for me, mine showed up when my wife was out of town. She noticed it while we were having breakfast one Saturday morning at a sidewalk cafe' across the street from where the X5 was parked.... Did I mention that she has 114 pairs of shoes?

[MANGO]

PropellerHead,

Can you please shed some light on these kit of parts?
I went and referenced the pic you took (hope you don't mind) and correlated some of the parts with the mounting points on the underride.

Clearly, Holes A go with Parts 1 but that's as far as I've figured it out.

What goes to Holes B (i.e. Parts 2, or 3, etc?) and so on...

I have yet to ask you about the different length bolts too but I figured we'd shed some light on these pieces first.


Thanks a bunch!
MANGO

[PropellerHead]

I noted the little things (#4) that go in the X5 frame under the car. The unit has to be lifted up and the bolts guided from underneath into the threads on #4. To do this, they include a long, hangar like thing with a 90 degree bend on the end. You guide #4 into the frame with the angled part through the threads. When they line up with the holes on the under ride unit, you hold #4 in place with the hangar while guiding the bolt through and trying to start on the threads of #4. It's truly silly.

This next part is I get fuzzy. The idea of the brackets 2-3 is so that the unit can be adjusted a little as it is being mounted. I *think* I remember that they go into B and C. But I don't recall which goes where- ie 2-b, 3-c or reverse.

I also don't recall whether there are two sets of holes on the unit. I am nearly certain that the holes on the frame (and the #4 parts within) line up to sections C and B when the brackets 2, and 3 are used as they would best fit.

Then there's those pesky #5's. I know that part of that spacer is rounded, and I think I recall that it is to accommodate the curvature of the X5 frame- not the under ride unit.

I'll find my friend who was the guy that actually figured that part out. I had completely ran out of gas by that time. I was just lying there on my back under the car and he would tell me what needed to go where. To add to the frustration, I was getting updates on the time from 'Party A' as we neared a dinner date. I was pretty distracted.

I think what is important to remember is that after the install, nothing will poke through under the unit. You know, like a bolt head or something that might get shaved off should you ever actually scrape the unit along something . That kind of makes sense with the little bracket system they have. After all, what would be the point of under ride protection if it could fail when a bolt head is scraped off, rt?.

I hope I have added a little something anyway. I will get back to you on the rest.

[MANGO]

Thanks PropellerHead!

That gives me some idea. Still scratching my head but your guidance definitely helps!
Well, to make matters a bit more complicated, after ordering the 3 different part numbers you messaged me about (the dealer did source out all 3 by the way), there was:

- No hanger looking tool
- No Part# 2 and 3 from the pic above included in the order
- Only 4 of the long Allen head bolts and the rest of the smaller bolts are not there
- Part# 4 above looks different from what I got. It'll probably perform the same
function still but what I got looks like 4 pieces of solid billet, half domed but with
a flat solid base, with the threads countersunk in all the way through. So if you
mate two together, they form a cylinder.

Also for Item D, there definitely is only one pair of those holes on the guard.



The quest for clarity continues....
MANGO

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by MANGO

Thanks PropellerHead!

That gives me some idea. Still scratching my head but your guidance definitely helps!
Well, to make matters a bit more complicated, after ordering the 3 different part numbers you messaged me about (the dealer did source out all 3 by the way), there was:

- No hanger looking tool
- No Part# 2 and 3 from the pic above included in the order
- Only 4 of the long Allen head bolts and the rest of the smaller bolts are not there
- Part# 4 above looks different from what I got. It'll probably perform the same
function still but what I got looks like 4 pieces of solid billet, half domed but with
a flat solid base, with the threads countersunk in all the way through. So if you
mate two together, they form a cylinder.

Also for Item D, there definitely is only one pair of those holes on the guard.



The quest for clarity continues....
MANGO

See? This was part of my confusion in the PM as well. I never found online instructions that matched what I had. I think they changed the install at the '04 refresh. I don't have ANY idea why- probably Westfalia (I *think* they made it for BMW) found a part that they could use on other models. But I would have to crawl under my mother in laws '01 to see if it is really any different.

Those curved cylinders are def- what slide plug into the chassis.

If I weren't so certain that any major work requires this thing coming off, I would offer you the hangar tool. But I gave it to my indy mech to soften the blow of any work I might need him to do requiring removal. Probably wont help much.

And I did hear from my buddy- he basically tole me the same thing that I told you. I was like- yeah- GOT that.. which bracket on WHICH part of the unit? Doofus. We'll see if he remembers, too.

[MANGO]

Thought I'd put up what I received in the baggies. #1 in the previous photos I have as well just didn't include them in the picture.

But other than that, that's everything!

the #4 pieces are definitely different than the #4 pieces from PropellerHead's bag o' bits.

Where do the Allen bolts even go to (new #6)???

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by MANGO

Thought I'd put up what I received in the baggies. #1 in the previous photos I have as well just didn't include them in the picture.

But other than that, that's everything!

the #4 pieces are definitely different than the #4 pieces from PropellerHead's bag o' bits.

Where do the Allen bolts even go to (new #6)???

Yeah- that's odd. Mine were the same sahpe, but they were 'hollowed' cylinders with an obvious nut welded within. I think they serve the same purpose and go in the same place within the X5 frame under the car.

[PropellerHead]

Well, boys- Guess what I found- the install pdf! Thanks to a very good friend, I have the latest install doc. I'm going to see if we can get this pdf set up with the others. Here's a snip showing the hangar like tool they included:

It was too large a pdf to attach here, but I found a way to get it to anyone who wants it! Enjoy, fellas!

[PandaTrader]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

Well, boys- Guess what I found- the install pdf! Thanks to a very good friend, I have the latest install doc. I'm going to see if we can get this pdf set up with the others. Here's a snip showing the hangar like tool they included:

It was too large a pdf to attach here, but I found a way to get it to anyone who wants it! Enjoy, fellas!

PropellerHead,
I know it's a long time ago you wrote about this. I was wondering the PDF installtion document that you have on bimmerfest, will they help me all the way through and most importantly do I still have to do the cuts in number 13 of this document with a 4.8is front bumper?

Thanks

[Balavay]

Mango, which pieces from the above picture (and including the #1 brackets) belong to which part number that you ordered?