stainless steel bolts ?

[landon4421]

I am getting ready to put my frame back togeather. My question to you all is, should I use stainless steel bolts or chorme, or regular type, like grade 8 ect?

I had the frame powder coated, as well as just about everything else. I was thinking that stainless steel would look good but don't know where to get them. I could probally get them at ACE or something, but dose anyone here on the board carry them?
I will be needing most of the bolts for putting the frame and suspenition back togeather.

Or would it be better just to buy the grade 8 style and paint them?

Here is a pic of the color that we did the frame. The rest is all black.

[mikep]

Typical stainless bolts have a tensile strength thats a bit less than what you'd associate with grade 5 in carbon steel bolts. Theyre soft and they gall. If you arent loading it too much and are maily interested in show then stainless bolts will keep it together. If you are driving it hard then I wouldnt go with stainless. I'd go with iridited grade 8 bolts or grade 9 if you want everyone to know what a raging stallion you are.

[Bowed]

From what I have been able to find from researching the rivits used on these frames , the original rivits are equal to grade 5 .

[imdarren]

I hope I get this link posted correct.
But this was covered at the bottom of the thread.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...threadid=42498
I would never use Stainless where strength is required.
Just my .02
Darren

[GMC JUNKIE TOO]

I put some stainless bolts on my motor, I faced the heads off on a lathe and then polished them they look awsome.

[jhow66]

Check your yellow pages for nut and bolt suppliers. They carry anything you want.

[Fred T]

The stainless bolts you buy at the hardware store or from most of the vendors are poor quality. I've had problems with improper heat treatment. Consider them to be the equivilant of a grade 2 bolt.

Galling is a condition where the threads meld, and you end up with a nut that cannot be unthreaded. If you use stainless bolts, use alloy steel nuts to reduce the galling possibility.

Replacing rivets in the frame. Rivets are a low shear strength fastener, terrible in tension, but are cheap to install on an assembly line with the proper squeeze tools. Roughly equivilant to a grade 2 or 3 bolt. To replace them with bolts, ream the hole to the next larger bolt size, rivet holes are usually a bit larger than a bolt hole, allowing the hole to be filled when the rivet is squeezed. Personally, I think using grade 8 bolts here is a waste of money. One problem that can occur (but it isn't likely) is cracking of the grade 8 bolts, they are more brittle, but the loads are low. I use grade 5 to replace rivets.

If you must use a stainless bolt in a structural situation, locate some grade 5 or better bolts. They are available. ARP is the easiest to get, also pretty expensive, but they are a nice looking bolt.

The other big problem with stainless bolts is galvanic corrosion, caused by dissimilar metal contact which forms a miniature battery. Stainles steel will do this when used with non-ferrous metals, such as aluminum and brass. In this case anti-sieze compound can be used, in aircraft we use a cad-plated bolt dipped in a wet primer (solvent base) or install with a non-hardening sealant, Hylomar should work here.

My work as a structural designer for Boeing Wichita has included fastener design for high load situations, using H-11 steel (now a no-no), Inconel 718, 15-5 PH and 17-5 PH stainless, 4340 and 4130 steel and a nickel-cobalt alloy. Currently, our standard bolt used is titanium alloy, expensive but very light weight.

[BigChevMan]

Quite a few hot rod companies offer grade 8 stainless steel bolts. I remember seening one company at the columbus nsra meet. I want to say the name was totally stainless or something to that effect. Check in the back of street rodder...I know they are back there.

[kwmech]

All the frame work I have done i've always used grade 8 bolts fine thread, type C lock nuts, G8 and flat washers, G8 on both sides of the frame that is under the head of the bolt and under the nut--no lock washers. Typically I use 7/16, the holes on the frame when you blow the rivet out seems to be 10mm so 7/16 is just a few thou larger and I clean up the hole with a uni-bit, [not a regular drill bit] leaves a cleaner hole and actually makes the hole round. Been doing frame work for almost 20 years and never had a problem doing it this way, learned from the proverbial old-timer. A little overkill on the grade 8 but better safe when holding rails together or stretching frames.

[GMCPaul]

Standard SS bolts are grade 2 with a tensile strength of 70,000psi, Grade 8 ss bolts are available and we can get them in 1/4-20, 5/16-18, 5/16-24, 3/8-16, 3/8-24, 7/16-14, 7/16-20, 1/2-13, 9/16-12, and 5/8-11
Grade 8 SS bolts are 150.000psi or higher
When torqueing SS fasteners you should use anti-seize and proper maximum torque rates for the sizes using anti-seize are
1/4-20= 9 ft lbs
5/16-18= 19 ft lbs
5/16-24= 20 ft lbs
3/8-16= 33 ft lbs
3/8-24= 35 ft lbs
7/16-14= 57 ft lbs
7/16-20= 58 ft lbs
1/2-13= 75 ft lbs
9/16-12= 110 ft lbs
5/8-11= 150 ft lbs
The torque needed to fully stress a fastener using anti-seize is significantly less due to lower frictional forces involved, as a example SS ARP headbolts are torqued to 57ft lbs yet produce the same clamping torque as standard bolts torqued to 80 ft lbs on a big block using oil to lubricate the threads.
Galling of the threads can be prevented by using anti-seize or vibratite thread locker.
How did I have on this info handy, just started adding all of our SS hardware 2 days ago to the site and I research everything before committing. So if you need SS fasteners give us a ring I can get virtually all fasteners styles in grade 2 SS and all the grade 8's I listed above in small indented hex head, hex head and 12 point heads. Grade 8 though are not cheap though with a 1/2"-13 X 1 1/2" bolt costing $9.30ea as a example.
GMCPaul

[Alexis]

i went to the hardware store and i got me grade 8 bolts......my blazer won't be a daily so i'm not worryed about them.....you could paint them, nothing wrong with that.

[OhioDan]

Check out this place called "Totally Stainless". They have a lot of stainless hardware that can be used on our trucks. They also explain what grade to use and where to use it at. I got some for my truck. Just my $.02.

http://totallystainless.net/totally.html

[ljbear]

I used Totally Stainless on the majority of my truck. They are great to work with, and if you tell them what you're doing they will get the correct fastener for you. They have any fastener you want available in stainless, from trim screws to U-bolts. As GMCPaul noted, some of it is real pricey, but they have it if you want it. They recomend using Vibratite on every fastener, so assembly can be a slow process painting it on and letting set up.