Rear unibody bracing?

[maxbraketorque]

The hitch will add strength but your sacrificing ground clearance. The factory nut-strips are 1/8" and utilize all 5 mountings bolts so you went to a lot of trouble without any gains.

BTW, your Curt hitch doesn't use all 5 bolts!

I agree that a standard style nut strip will keep the nuts from pulling through the unibody rail, but that's the extent of it. I can twist and bend the factory and JCR nut strips by hand. The nut strip I'm using will add twist resistance and will reduce the amount of flex that can occur at the unibody rail due to more effectively clamping the hitch to the rail. I'm certain that it will provide more benefit than a standard nut strip, but I have no idea how much it will help compared to the innate stiffness of the unibody. I contemplated gusseting the Curt hitch to help with twist resistance, but I decided to wait and see it works as-is.

I'm ok with giving up some ground clearance. There are no obstacles that big or angle of approach/departure that steep in my expected future. Probably goes without saying that if I ever scrape the hitch, I probably should have a gas tank skid, so its a good warning indicator.

 

[ShoeterMcgav]

You can't twist a JCR nut strip by hand... maybe bend in the center. Coupled with a bumper and gas tank skid I have 1/2" of metal under the strip with more mounting points. Not gonna bend the nut strip.
Glad you found something that works for your needs. Sounds like some work and $ to do so- not sure what you did that any old hitch doesn't provide?

 

[maxbraketorque]

Cost wasn't any more than the cost of the custom nut strips which were only $50 shipped. It was a fair bit of time screwing around with getting them fitted though.

To me, it intuitively feels like a 2-1/8" wide thick steel nut strip will more effectively clamp the unibody rail to the hitch than a 1-1/4" wide thiner steel nut strip. Perhaps I don't give standard nut strips enough credit in their ability to keep the unibody rail tightly pinned up against the hitch mount.

 

[ShoeterMcgav]

The clamping force comes more from the bolts though ya? I mean, my strip ain't moving anywhere unless multiple grade 8 bolts sheer off. Unless you have frame inserts boxing the inner unibody, I don't see any logical differences.
For me, time is money, and the nutstrip was easy af to install. The skid, bumper mount, and SRBs, all keep everything snug and braced. Having 2 rear 2x2 box steel connections/ frame braces (shock tower and rear bumper mount, as well as actual steel bumper that attach driver to passenger keeps me at ease on any side pulls. If anything I have more metal back there then I'd like.... but its stout. Next is full unibody stiffeners and roll cage. One day

 

[ShoeterMcgav]

FYI my phone doesn't like the links you shared for pics so no idea what ya even did

 

[maxbraketorque]

The clamping force comes more from the bolts though ya? I mean, my strip ain't moving anywhere unless multiple grade 8 bolts sheer off. Unless you have frame inserts boxing the inner unibody, I don't see any logical differences.

For me, time is money, and the nutstrip was easy af to install. The skid, bumper mount, and SRBs, all keep everything snug and braced. Having 2 rear 2x2 box steel connections/ frame braces (shock tower and rear bumper mount, as well as actual steel bumper that attach driver to passenger keeps me at ease on any side pulls. If anything I have more metal back there then I'd like.... but its stout. Next is full unibody stiffeners and roll cage. One day

Its done now. I definitely put in a few more hours than just doing nutstrips. Yes, the bolts do the clamping, but they need to brace against something do do their job. You've got a bunch of metal on the outside of the rail, but only a 1.25" wide by 1/8" thick strip of steel on the inside. There's nothing stopping the rail from bending out past the width of the nut strip except the strength of the sheet metal itself. But who knows whether that matters in a real world situation.

FYI my phone doesn't like the links you shared for pics so no idea what ya even did

I was wondering whether people would have trouble seeing my photos. I'm hosting them on my own web server that's set up for https, but I'm only using a self-signed certificate that web browsers automatically don't trust. To see my photos, you'll need to "trust" my site or do whatever your web browser says not to do.

 

[ShoeterMcgav]

Phone doesn't give me that option... just says nah don't go there

 

[ShoeterMcgav]

Its also not a fair comparison. I have other bolts holding things in place that will not move even if a nut strip bolt thought it could. You were worried about rear unibody bracing- on a rear side pull did you effectively strengthen the unibody? I'm not worried about mine for many reasons

 

[maxbraketorque]

... You were worried about rear unibody bracing- on a rear side pull did you effectively strengthen the unibody? ...

Good question. I hope I added some twist resistance which is my primary concern. However, perhaps I didn't do squat. But I needed a trailer receiver, so at least I got that done.

 

[ShoeterMcgav]

Eh, if anything when you get or make a steel bumper you can cut up the hitch and mounting points to use?

Ultimately the unibody is the weak link on our rigs... plate em brace em and send it!