My rear hatch was frozen shut last winter. I pulled so hard that I broke some of the mounting bolts off the back of the plate. Took the plate off and drilled holes where the bolts were. Then bolted the plate on with stainless steel bolts . Looks good and I will not try to open a frozen hatch again. Enjoy

Came out looking pretty clean and factory.
See stainless steel bolts through the plate replace the slotted bolts that were inside the plate. No more rear hatch plate problems.

 

I don't blame you. The price of these holders is a joke.

 

The blue looks dope. Your truck must look like a roided out Sonic barreling down the road.

 

It was stealth gray from factory. In 2012 it had a complete color change to 2006 Audi Blue. I have had a lot of positive comments on the color. Wish it was a little darker.

 

What size bolts did you use? Looking to do the same thing. Thanks.

 

I tackled this earlier today. 2007 H2.

After removing the interior trim, there are 6 bolts that are attached with plastic cavities to hold the bolt heads to the back of the license plate holder. 5 out of 6 of mine were broken with the bolts in tact but with the plastic holding broken and completely separated from the license plate holder. After removing the bolts, you'll need a drill bit that's at least 4 1/2 inches long for a few of the holes. I used a much smaller bit than 1/4 to drill the initial hole from the back (interior side). Once the hole was there marking the location, I drilled from the exterior side with larger drill bits up to 1/4.

For the bolts, I used 1/4-20 x 3/4 in. hex bolts, which worked well.

2 of the bolts were directly underneath the handle and I'm leaving those alone for now because I was a little concerned about catching them with a hand when opening the hatch, but probably will end up replacing those too since the license plate holder still is not as tight as I would like in that area.

 

Pics of my install. I ended up putting the bolts in behind the handle too.

 

Did the same on mine but I used stainless carriage bolts (the ones with the smooth low profile head) and let the square shoulder bite into the plastic. Actually worked perfect and gives them a nice low profile. I need to add two more now behind the handle since mine has now started cracking there toward the right edge.

 

I initially didn't put the bolts behind the handle, but based on your response, I'm glad I did. Even without a low profile the bolts don't come close to catching or touching your hand when opening the hatch. With a low profile, there should be no issue at all. I went with black to match the license plate holder, but now I'm getting slight rust where my pliers slightly nicked the head (should have used a wrench). I put some wax on the heads and I'll see how that does, but I may be going back to stainless steel.