Interior/Exterior :: DIY license plate tow hook holder
 

if theres anyone out there that hates front plates more than i do and is willing to go trough more trouble, then more power to ya :) (32 tickets and counting :eek:), i just refuse to drill holes in my bumpers. but after that many i said screw it LOL, but still refuse to drill holes.
so i went around all over the place trying to figure out what the thread size and width and specs are on our tow hooks to no avail, even took the hook with me and tried all the threds at local HD and lowes and menards type of stores...nothing.

came home frustrated and looked around the garage, and saw a red C-clamp laying around, hmmm, threads look just as retarded as the tow hook haha. (no clue as to what these cost, but i saw the same one at HD :nod:)
pull it off, screw it in the tow hook, no resistance, pull off, put tow hook in, wow, no rethreaded issues, NICE.
pull the little lever off and screwed it in all the way to the point where the plate when mounted would not hit the lower unpainted portion of the bumper.
drilled a hole and threaded it, put a bolt in there, and it holds.
next, i went to Home Depot and got a door handle of a sort, but looks flat all around and very industrial, not for dining room, most likely tool shed or something by the looks of it.
after that, got another straight plate (happened to match the holes with the door handle, as well as the license plate holes, so no drilling).
then pick out any bolts/washers you wanna use.
a bit of sanding and black paint, and here we go.
50-60 dollars that people charge for same units online is outrageous for a bolt,washer and piece of straight bracket.

anyways, here are the pics as well as the receipt (included is AMP energy drink to get you trough). maybe i should call it AMP tow hook license plate holder.
you can play with how far you want to screw it in, but i didnt want it to touch the bumper. you can literlly kick it and it doesnt flex, so im sure at highway speeds it will be fine.

enjoy, and ask any Qs that you might have

http://i30.tinypic.com/ot1c9g.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/2dme04x.jpg

http://i31.tinypic.com/2dl2jit.jpg

http://i30.tinypic.com/14tc280.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/bg66bm.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/2yvpduc.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/2lmphrm.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/jucrv6.jpg

Jeez...and some people spout off about how these acme (square) threads are some BMW propriety machining!
Kudos for your ingenuity!

that looks good.

i wish i didnt already have holes drilled in my bumper

Brilliant! You cracked the code! I thought those threads looked familiar...just never thought to look at my c-clamps. D'oh!

Now I feel like a dunce for buying a pre fab one.

thanks guys.
was on the highway today at about 100 or so, still looks and feels sturdy, so no issues with it so far and i really dont foresee any as long as everything is bolted up correctly.

and yeah, at first glance the Cclamp bolt doesnt look like it would fit, but it does :) maybe they are secretly made by bmw ahaha

Oi..... great find!!

A C-clamp like this?

http://www.cripedistributing.com/hus...mp-p-4754.html

http://www.cripedistributing.com/ima...g/DSC05580.JPG





Did you cut the bolt off?

yeah just like that one, same brand.
the little piece on the bottom just slides off, you can hammer it off.

Is Mountain Dew AMP an integral part and where does it fit in?:roll:

Nice job anyway:thumbsup:. The "C" Clamp is the trick.

My HD (SE Houston) doesn't recognize the part numbers for the handle and the strap - anybody else have success, or find a workable substitute?

They did have the Mountain Dew, though.

lol
those are part numbers from Menards

How many turns did you get on the bolt from the c-clamp? I bought the Husky 6" clamp, but I only get 1 1/2 turns out of it before it gets too tight. It looks like you cut the bolt somewhere in the middle. How long did you cut the bolt? Is the former t-handled in on the outside facing the plate? Sorry for the questions, just want to ask before I start cutting. Thanks.

An easy way to verify that the threads are right (that you bought a workable clamp) is to match them up with the tow eye out of your jack assembly...should be identical threads that you can line up. I found the bumper socket you're inserting all this into to be pretty deep...several turns, definitely more than 1.5.

you can definitely drive that whole thing in there hahaha.
there is a plastic shroud behind there, and i wanted to see how far it would go, and turns out it went right trough the plastic and inside.

so i think you might have gotten a wrong one mate

wow dude this is great thanks for the discovery! =]

Out of curiosity I went out and got out the tow hook for my 2009 MCS Clubbie and measured the threads to be awfully close to a standard 5/8 x 8 tpi Acme thread. Since I happened to have a piece of 5/8 x 8tpi Acme threaded rod I tried that and it fits quite nicely. The tow hook threads are a little more rounded than a standard Acme thread but they are close enough.

Acme thread rod is available from a number of sources but not generally HD or Lowes

what did you use to connect the door handle to the clamp bolt?

i just did this to my car. but i went a little differnt route. still used the C-clamp to get the thread but i didnt have the handle so i just used sheets of metal and made a bracket. also didnt like it so low so i bumped it up about an inch.

a few other shots

Yellow,

Nice right up. Since you used a c-clamp screw for the tow hook, did you cut it to make it shorter? Also, did you drill and made a hole for a screw on one end of the tow hook screw? The way I'm doing mine right now is similar, but different. Don't know if it is going to work,but I'll let you know. I just bought a 5/8 screw with a flat head on one side. I bought a metal plate. What I'm planning to do is make a 5/8 hole in the metal plate then screw the screw througt the hole in the metal plate and into the tow hook. After, place the license plate to the metal plate. Can you please send me more deatils on how you did this?

Yellow,

What I said above didn't go so well. So, I went to Home Depot and looked for a C-Clamp, but then all the clamps thread pattern didn't match. It didnt go in all the way and just got stuck while screwing in about 3 turns. So, I looked at a hardware store and looked at the C-Clamps, and I found one with a different thread count. The one C-Clamp that worked had threads that was more apart from each other and bigger threads. Once I got that, I was wondering how you guys drilled a hole on the head of the bolt? I also couldn't find a simple piece of metal. Help!

He drilled a hole in the threaded rod, and then used a tap for the screw. You would have to put it in a vise to drill the hole in the end. Make sure you use the correct tap for the screw you are going to use. The metal part, just look at HD or Lowe's and I'm sure you can find something similar to what was used.

BMW auto wrecker!!
 

I know this thread has been dead for a while, but I just wanted to say thanks for the tip on locating the proper threads. It turns out that the c-clamps sold in my HD are not exactly the same so I had to go another route.

I found a fastener shop that carried the correct acme threaded rods, but only in 6' lengths which was way too expensive and they don't do cuts either. So ended up stumbling upon a BMW salvage/wrecker and he had 3 or 4 of the exact tow hook that fits the Mini. He sold one to me for $5. Bingo!

Thanks all!

It has, but history was always a fun class and worth a revisit... These are the kind of things you come up with after a 6-pack! Brilliant work!

Where to find Acme Threaded Rod
 

I'm about to order some threaded rod to make my own license plate holders.

Gonna order this:
http://www.wttool.com/index/page/pro...e+Threaded+Rod

~$9 for 3 feet. Should be able to make a handful of plate holders. :)

Sorry to bring this post back from the dead, but this thread came up during a Google search. :) I found this at Bavarian Autosport...

http://www.bavauto.com/lview.asp?img.../smbolt-hk.jpg

Looks like a mounting bolt that threads into the tow hook, and a bolt that threads into this adapter. Could use it to mount a GoPro for instance.

Perhaps fab a custom bracket like the above, and wa-la! $12.95 at Bavarian...