Katahdin
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- Scarborough, ME
I'm going down this road with my Jeep TJ and the M-151 shackle mounts (Thanks Armada!) and wanted to share what I've been doing to make the Mutt mounts fit.
As you can see the bracket holes don't quite line up with the tow hook's so it requires drilling, but I wanted to preserve as much metal as possible. The forward bracket hole I just enlarged with a slight offset of the drill bit towards the center of the bracket. Note, the cutting tip on a cheap masonry bit I had worked well for this. I was using a drill press at the lowest RPM setting.
I decided to fill in the rear hole using a Mig Welding Trick I found on YouTube. Basically if you weld-fill the hole on a non-steel backing like aluminum or copper the puddle will not stick to the backing. It was a quick and easy, after a couple more quick tacks on the backside of the bracket and a little grinding you're ready to drill the correct size hole where you want it.
As you can see the bracket holes don't quite line up with the tow hook's so it requires drilling, but I wanted to preserve as much metal as possible. The forward bracket hole I just enlarged with a slight offset of the drill bit towards the center of the bracket. Note, the cutting tip on a cheap masonry bit I had worked well for this. I was using a drill press at the lowest RPM setting.
I decided to fill in the rear hole using a Mig Welding Trick I found on YouTube. Basically if you weld-fill the hole on a non-steel backing like aluminum or copper the puddle will not stick to the backing. It was a quick and easy, after a couple more quick tacks on the backside of the bracket and a little grinding you're ready to drill the correct size hole where you want it.
