Don't use cheap bolts!

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dmw56

Busted and Rusted on Route 66
Joined
Dec 21, 2007
Messages
6,471
Location
Edgewood, New Mexico off Route 66
I readjusted the brake pedal height in my truck today. As I was readjusting the brake light switch I heard a TINK what the ****** was that. I looked around and saw a bolt head on the floor of the cab. The bolt the brake pedal pivots on just popped it's head off. The bolt was the one supplied with the universal brake pedal bracket and was an ungraded bolt. Who knows where that was built, but I can guess it wasn't the USA. If I had been driving it when that happened what could have happened scares the crap out of me.

I will never ever use an ungraded bolt on any critical part on any vehicle I build, restore, fix, whatever. I'm not to worried about older bolts off vintage vehicles they are probably a good quality bolt compared to the cheap junk import stuff you get today on parts. So spend a few extra bucks for good bolts, grade 5 or better on a part that if the bolt brakes you could be dead!

No more cheap import crap bolts for me.:mad:


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thought i'd add... if you don't see any markings or "lines" on the head of the bolt, stay away from it!my local hardware store only carries grade5 or grade 8
grade 5 has 3 "lines" on its top, grade 8 has 6 "lines" and the prices aren't bad at all for the extra piece of mind!;)

if i'm wrong on the grade info please correct---that's what i was told anyway.......
glad you weren't involved in any accident due to that cheap bolt, dmw maybe someone was lookin out for ya!:D
 
That was good that it happened right there in the shop and not on the road.:eek:It probably would of not been a happy ending.Always use grade 8 bolts when doing brake and suspension work.I can not stress that enough.

It will prevent these types of misshaps from occuring.
 
Glad you weren't on the road when this happened. A couple of my cheap friends of mine give me a bad time because I only use grade 8 hardware, even my valve covers are held down with grade 8. Overkill, I know, but I like the color.:D
 
Thats nuts! No pun intended. You got lucky this time, what are the odds of that happening when the truck was sitting still?

Problem today is its hard to buy stuff out of catalogues that is made in the U.S. A few companies well tell you straight up if its American made, but i can tell you that alot of the parts speedway carries are made in China. Unfortunatly, most parts on my truck were made outside the U.S. Actually, only the vintage used parts were made here. The frame/chassis steel was made in Canada.

Kinda relevant: One thing ive learned through experience is that you never heat U-bolts. It weakens the steel, and when you put pressure on the nuts they turn into shrapnel. If you've got a bad U-bolt, or wrong size U-bolt dont try making it work. Your better off getting new ones.
 
Yikes!

Here's the bolt. It didn't twist off just the outward tension popped the head off.

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HOLLY ****!:eek:

Being an engineer and having worked for the government (space and military) for too many years to count the benchmark is never use fasteners without pedigrees.

You pay more, but just like you could have found - out the alternative is just to costly to risk.
 
Man that could have been bad glade it was not. I am very anel about my hardware my buddys always say you are over kill but better to be over kill and not have to worry about it failing me.
 

I bought it at a swap meet from a vendor selling all kinds of hotrod stuff. But I've seen them for sale other places including local speed shops, ebay, etc..

I'm going to take the bolt and show it to one shop I know that carries them and let them know that if they continue to carry that brand they need to tell the customers to upgrade that bolt. Could be a serious libility. Heck I would even sell them anymore if I sold them.
 
Hey guys, I work in the nuclear power industry were we pay big bucks for THE BEST.(i.e. $500 toilet seats)
Last year we had a slew of counterfeit bolts get flaged by our QA guys.

They came out of CHINA:mad:

Very poor metal quality.
 
Hey guys, I work in the nuclear power industry were we pay big bucks for THE BEST.(i.e. $500 toilet seats)
Last year we had a slew of counterfeit bolts get flaged by our QA guys.

They came out of CHINA:mad:

Very poor metal quality.

Hey Caddad65. I work for the DOE NNSA in ABQ. I'm very familiar wth what your talking about.
 
I bought a set of grade 8 bolts for the 37 this weekend and it cost $35 (washers, nuts, etc. included for only 8 bolts) and I felt like that was the biggest waste. I questioned the purchase and thought I should have gone with grade 5 and saved a lot of money.

Now I'm glad I went grade 8 :D

Also, I went to two different stores before I found EXACTLY what I needed. Home Depot has the worst selection of Hardware I have ever seen. I definitely recommend Ace Hardware to anyone getting frustrated that they can't find what they need. Ace had it all, and the service has always been great. I gave the guy a list, and he found everything I needed and I was back out the door in 5 minutes flat.
 
I bought a set of grade 8 bolts for the 37 this weekend and it cost $35 (washers, nuts, etc. included for only 8 bolts) and I felt like that was the biggest waste. I questioned the purchase and thought I should have gone with grade 5 and saved a lot of money.

Now I'm glad I went grade 8 :D

Also, I went to two different stores before I found EXACTLY what I needed. Home Depot has the worst selection of Hardware I have ever seen. I definitely recommend Ace Hardware to anyone getting frustrated that they can't find what they need. Ace had it all, and the service has always been great. I gave the guy a list, and he found everything I needed and I was back out the door in 5 minutes flat.

I agree with you on that one HD sucks for hardware.
 
They USED TO have a decent selection of hardware.
Now they have basically nothing. And what they do have is mostly imported.
 
While ACE & True Value have good hardware selections, I've found the best around here for value & selection is Tractor Supply. Nothing like nuts, bolts & washers priced by the pound !
 

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