Word of Warning on the Ilium Engine Guards; tap the thread on the crossbar first !!!

[beemerdons]

A Word of Warning if you're installing the Ilium Works Engine Guards, tap out the threads on the crossbar before you install the Ilium supplied bolts. The bolts are cheap and the powder coating will snap them off, we AZ Beemers have discovered this the hard way!!!

The tap is a 6mm x 1 and you need to clean up those threads; Ilium should be doing this!

Also, we are replacing the Ilium bolts with a better grade of American made hardware too!

However, we love the looks of Ilium Works Engine Guards and their 6-point attachments!

[beemerdons]

A better explanation of the Ilium problem from our AZ Beemers President Brian Boles:

A little more explanation to what BeemerDonS posted.

The Ilium bars have a top cross bar that goes across the front of the motor. The side bars slip over the ends of this top bar.

The top bar is threaded (6mm x 1mm) to accept a bolt that goes through the side bar to hold it to the top bar.

When we finger tight assembled the bars to the bike, the 6mm bolt jammed up after only about 2 threads were in. The suprising part was that the bolt would not back out. So we used a hex key to try to back it out, but it wouldn't budge. Finally, in frustration, the hex key socket on the wrench came out. That actually broke the bolt, leaving the 2 stuck threads part of the bolt in the cross bar.

After much effort on the drill press, we removed the bolt remains. Time for re-assessment !

Looking at the crossbar, I think we found the problem. It looks like the tapped hole in the crossbar was not protected when the bar was powder coated. When we tried to thread the bolt in the other side of the hole, it would quickly snag up. The powder coating seems to catch the threads and snag the bolt.

So, I broke out the 6mm X 1mm tap and chased the threads in both holes. After that, the bolts went in easily.

So, the warning is - clean out the threaded holes in the crossbar before you start assembling.

Note to Ilium - that threaded hole should be capped during powder coating.

Other than that - the rest of the assembly went without a hitch, and the bars look great and the highway pegs are sweet.

[beemerdons]

Thanks for the info Don. The right side bolt snapped just the head so the crash bar is still attached. I have a friend with a drill press who is going to try and drill it out. The left snapped inside so no problem separating the parts.

Ilium offered to send an entire new set but for now I asked them just to send the crossbar and new bolts. If my buddy mars up the crash bar I'll have to take them up on their offer.

Have you informed Ilium about your issue? Obviously they know about mine but not sure they are aware the powdercoat is the problem.

Hi Don,

Thank you for ordering our Engine Guard Bar System. I apologize for your difficulties with the 6 MM threads in the cross bar. We just became aware of this on Tuesday morning, another customer had a similar experience. We went through all the bars we still had in house and cleaned out the threads, and contacted our powder coating vendor to have the threads plugged in the batch he is working on now. I was surprised how quickly the threads galled when the screw was inserted. When looking at the dust that came out of the threads when I put a tap through them, I was able to see the metallic flakes that are in the pigment of the powder coat. When combined with the stainless steel screws, it made for a very effective thread locker. Our hardware is made of A2, 304 stainless steel to DIN 912 specifications. This puts it right between a SAE Grade 5 and Grade 8 alloy steel screw in terms of tensile strength, but with much greater corrosion resistance. Thank you for bringing this problem to our attention, we have taken positive steps to prevent its recurrence. I hope that you have many enjoyable rides on your new BMW, please call us if you have any further questions.

Thank you,

John Jans

Ilium Works

[HudMike]

I received the Engine Guard kit made by Ilium this week and fitted everything without a problem It appears Ilium have sorted out the production problem. The crossbar was shipped with the saddle washers and allen head cap screws installed and the screws ran in and out freely. I really like the look of them and the powder coating finish is perfect.

[beemerdons]

I received the Engine Guard kit made by Ilium this week and fitted everything without a problem It appears Ilium have sorted out the production problem. The crossbar was shipped with the saddle washers and allen head cap screws installed and the screws ran in and out freely. I really like the look of them and the powder coating finish is perfect.

+1, Gunny; since my first posting our AZ Beemers Members have received and installed 2 more of the Engine Guard Kits made by Ilium and everything was A-OK!