After market bolts that failed on my Duster.

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Oldmanmopar

Oldmanmopar

Going left turning right
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I thought the bolts were left loose until we started looking at the rest of the bolts that came off the car . Myself and other members from this site.

Could it have been because the after market bolts have twice the treads missing? I showed these to several members that have been here . All concluded the bolts were designed different and had to have had less strength . You all decide. You want to keep on using them go right ahead.

Now my eyes are not the best but they appear to be a little light on metal. I don't see a name on them. But I know where they came from. But it doesn't matter after some research most all being sold look like the redesigned style.

Look for originals!

DSCN0551.JPG


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DSCN0558.JPG
 
Which one is the stock part?
 
69FBCuda said:
Which one is the stock part?
Click to expand...

The one that only has one flat cut into it.

The repop's that have two flats significantly reduce the diameter of the bolt, not to mention further reduce the thread contact area making them more likely to strip out. Technically speaking you'd have to know the metallurgy of the bolt to know if the one with the smaller diameter was actually weaker, but if you assume the two flat bolt is made out of the same grade material as the originals then it's weaker. It would need to be made out of pretty stern stuff to have a smaller diameter and be stronger. That's not impossible, but I think we all know it isn't likely.

Was that what caused the failure? Again, you'd have to analyze the bolt. But it sure as heck could have added to it. Less cross sectional area, less thread contact area. Something else could have gone wrong, but those bolts definitely could have contributed to the issue. Or been the issue entirely.
 
Did I miss something in the previous threads? What are these fasteners for and how did they fail? They just snapped? Are they suspension components? Thank you.
 
The bolt that the insurance took with them must have been missing some. I don't remember the threads being that much longer. I never found the nut or the washers. But the rest of the bolt was laying on the rail behind the shock. They could be laying at Nuemedia dragway.

What I believe was causing the front wheel shake when the wheels lifted was the pins bouncing out of the bushings.


There was so much pressure pushing back on the spindle out side of the strut rod fulcrum. When the wheels went up the pressure left go and the arms would bounce back pushing the torsion bars rearward against the clips. Now this is my theory I never put a Go-pro under the car. But what else could it have been. Also when the arm bounced back it toed the car in alot and can be seen on the video. 60' was consistant 150's

Car 356


1026903-32c11f19cd52ac43f9842166be2324a1.jpg



14 mile Duster 001.jpg
 
life and death of the Duster
life and death of the Duster

Not sure what brand but they were the style that had two flats instead of one flat on the bolt. this give a lot less thread area. I Had more of them in the parts bin I threw them all away. I think I bought them at NAPA. I should have used cleaned up original bolts with one flat. The poly bushing just came apart from foot braking it. They are stiff but they are junk. I will never use anything for bushings but rubber

I knew they were bad and we were about to pull it in the shop for a new K-member we built with Heim joints on the struts and 73 steering. . (pictured below) My son took it for one last ride. little did we know

Oldmanmopar said:
Not sure what brand but they were the style that had two flats instead of one flat on the bolt. this give a lot less thread area. I Had more of them in the parts bin I threw them all away. I think I bought them at NAPA. I should have used cleaned up original bolts with one flat. The poly bushing just came apart from foot braking it. They are stiff but they are junk. I will never use anything for bushings but rubber

I knew they were bad and we were about to pull it in the shop for a new K-member we built with Heim joints on the struts and 73 steering. . (pictured below) My son took it for one last ride. little did we know
Click to expand...
 
Wow!!

I used new bolts on my fish but they matched the originals. One flat and same fine threads as the originals. I had no issue with clamping force either.

Also noticed the eccentric’s on the aftermarket bolts above are thinner!
 
I found the boxes all the parts came in. They were not NAPA bolts. One was a poly kit. and the other was a standard rubber kit the bolts were in one of the box.

I buy cars from all over the place. Many new parts come with them as most of you that have been here see for yourself. I didn't know these parts have a shelf life. This was my car it wasn't a daily driver . It is always getting updated. Who would have thought I would lose it from using "off shore parts" for a short while. It wasn't like I was expecting Mileage. Do these companies make all the parts they are selling . Or do they buy off shore in quantity?

NAPA is no better in some cases. Mexican-Chinese Does it really matter.

Nothing is better than good used OEM Fasteners.

I restore old tractors and have won some trophies there. have to use all the bolts they came with.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
NAPA is no better in some cases. Mexican-Chinese Does it really matter.
.
Click to expand...

There is lots of blame. "Old" companies that have been around since before our grandfathers are now Chineseosified. Dorman is a great example of "bad." Federal Mogul/ Timken, whoever brands oil / grease seals. I don't know what IS US anymore. Moog is looking pretty bad also............

In the 80's I worked for a big parts house in town. Guy comes in, says he "might want a motor mount."

"Might"

"If it's made in the U.S."

I said "we carry TRW you can't get much more American than that."

He says "You better look at it I just came from the store down the street." Sure as hell, made in Korea. This was in the EIGHTIES
 
Bear in mind that sometimes other "manufacturers" pirate part numbers from others. I cannot think of a great example, back when I was in auto parts (74--about 89ish??) there were some part numbers that were different only by prefix or suffix, or maybe a couple of prefix letters instead of numbers, etc. I realize Wix actually makes NAPA filters, but that is along the same line. 51515 Wix is 1515 NAPA, same idea

On the other hand you have a great point. Moog seems to have gone the way of many/ most other old school U.S. manufacturers..........selling out.......to the worst quality on the planet
 
The failure point on those bolts is visible in the picture. I missed it the first time around with my original comments in this thread but discovered it in another post where a different member shared more information and brought up that his alignment settings were changing.

If you look closely you can see that the flats on the reproduction bolt aren’t cut as far down the shank as the flat is on the original bolt. That causes the eccentric washer to bottom out on the shoulder of the bolt before the UCA is clamped in the mount, which can cause the alignment settings to change. If you then just continue to torque the living crap out of the eccentric bolt to solve the UCA movement, without looking for the cause of the problem, you damage the threads and overload the bolt, causing it to shear later.

So the issue is two fold, the bolt was manufactured incorrectly with the flats too short on the shank. But then it was over-torqued instead of inspected to find the issue.

Bottom line is, compare your new parts to your old parts BEFORE you install them. And don’t just over torque things if they don’t work properly at the factory torque spec, it means there’s probably a bigger issue.
 

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