Has anyone ever tapped the lower hole on the LS1 brackets and ran the bolt through from the back side? Instead of threading it into the spindle just thread it into the bracket, The upper one can be left alone. I have seen many people just grind the bolt head down for clearance but I am not all about that.

 

I have done that to one set of brackets but didn't use them. Although I still have to grind a little off the bolt head, I still do them the standard way. You really don't have to remove that much off the head, the bolt will still be plenty strong enough. However, I am changing my design up a bit and will use a bolt with a thinner head on it so I'll no longer have to trim that bolt up any. Since I already had a few sets of brackets made for my current design I had to use them and grind the lower bolt.

To answer your question, your idea can be done and would work. But on the odd occasion that the lower bolt did indeed back out, the bracket would be free to move around. By keeping the bolt under the carrier, it cannot back out at all.

Ed

 

What about using a 7/16-20 bolt for the lower one?

 

If you tap the bracket for it, sure. You can use whatever bolt size you want, tap how ya like, Doowutyalike.

Ed