So I am new to this forum. I bought my 17 F-150 XLT 4x4 on Aug 17. Been good so far, except when I went to add the tailgate shock that Ford sells. Was able to get the tailgate out of the way to get to the hinge that needs to be taken out. The top bolt was able to come out without too much effort. But when I got to the lower bolt it was a b**** to get loose. When I went to install the new part, the top bolt went in as easy as it came out but for the life of me I could not get the lower bolt back in. I was able to get the mounting plate the hinge bolts on by bending the tabs out of the way and removing it from the truck. When I look at the threads on the bottom part, the threads are stripped, no wonder it took so much effort. My question is has anyone else experienced this problem? If so what would be the easier fix, trying to track down the part # and ordering a new piece? Or trying to re-tap the hole? If going the re-tap route does anyone know what size tap I would need to get this done?

 

So the lower bolt was cross threaded when originally installed? Can you post photos?

 

Seems that way. At first I thought it may have just been the thread-lock from the factory, but once I got that piece out, I was able to inspect the threads and verify that it was cross threaded.

 

For anyone interested in pictures, here are a few. In one of them you can kind of see the threads in top mounting location, pretty clean. In the other 2 you can sort of see that the threads are messed up. And the last picture has the bolts that mount the pivot hinge to the body. Surprisingly, the threads are fine.

 

don't know size offhand but if you take the screw to a hardware store,they will tell you the size and you can tap it out real easy. [ I "ll bet its metric size!]

 

I'm going to try and see if the dealership that I bought it from can do anything about it. in the mean time I am going to ask the industrial arts teacher at the school I teach at has a matching tap.

 

Yes, they are metric screws. M10-1.5.

 

Those bolts are a B to get out because they're painted on.

 

I had the same issue with mine. Top bolt was a piece of cake, the bottom bolt I was afraid I was going to break it. I finally got it off after spraying some WD40 on it. Mine wasn't stripped though, I was able to get it back on with some extra effort. Boy do those bolts make a loud crack when the paint gives way though. I thought I broke something at first.

 

Paint is not the issue. The trucks are painted after the screws are installed, and the paint layers are very thin. The screws are precoated with threadlocker (the pink material in the photos cajun4x4 posted). They are also highly torqued during installation (I've forgotten the exact number, but I believe it's around 70 ft-lbs).

A penetrating lubricant definitely helps during removal, but they still take a lot of initial effort to break them free.

It does look like the OP's screw was cross-threaded during installation, but it appears that there is still enough meat in the bracket to hold the screw after chasing the threads with a tap; it's definitely worth a try. I'd use a torque wrench to tighten the screws to be sure they will hold the required torque value (I'm thinking 50+ ft-lbs).