Frame Bolts

[Vic Roma]

On the trucks that I’ve seen the radius mount bracket was attached to the frame using a rivet. Do you replace the rivet with a grade 8 bolt?

Has anyone ever used cold or hot rivets to attach parts to the frame, to replicate the original design? “Overkill” I hear you say…

As to why rivets > 8 bolt, see this interesting discussion.

[ArdWrknTrk]

You might look at the Ford TSB's relating to creaking or popping crossmembers. 💡

Their procedure is to ream fit for the next larger size and use grade 5 bolts.

The important part is that there is absolutely no slop in the hole.

Rivets do this nicely on the assembly line, but are going to be a real challenge laying under a truck in your driveway. (or even on a lift in a fully stocked dealership, evidently)

Grade 5 does hold some advantage to grade 8 in that even though they have lower UTS, they are less prone to stress cracking and slightly more corrosion resistant because of their lower carbon content.

[Rembrant]

I have personally used grade 8 bolts and grade 8 flat washers (they're smaller/neater). I used 7/16" coarse by 1 1/4" long. They seem to work well. Most of the holes are a hair bigger than 7/16", so if you wanted a tight fit you'd have to drill them out to 1/2" and use 1/2" bolts.

By the way, you don't necessarily need to remove the radius arm brackets. I guess it depends on the application. I just swapped radius arms and bushings on my 1984 (2wd) and was able to do it without removing the brackets.

[Gary Lewis]

I have personally used grade 8 bolts and grade 8 flat washers (they're smaller/neater). I used 7/16" coarse by 1 1/4" long. They seem to work well. Most of the holes are a hair bigger than 7/16", so if you wanted a tight fit you'd have to drill them out to 1/2" and use 1/2" bolts.

By the way, you don't necessarily need to remove the radius arm brackets. I guess it depends on the application. I just swapped radius arms and bushings on my 1984 (2wd) and was able to do it without removing the brackets.

Jim is right that there's a TSB for creaking and popping which discusses using bolts to replace rivets. But there's a whole TSB on that subject as well called 96-15-11 FRAME - RIVET REPLACEMENT WITH BOLTS.

You'll see that it is just as he said - drill and then ream to within .005" of the bolt size. And while they talk about using Grade 5 bolts, they do say "Grade 8 bolts may be substituted for any application."

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim is right that there's a TSB for creaking and popping which discusses using bolts to replace rivets. But there's a whole TSB on that subject as well called 96-15-11 FRAME - RIVET REPLACEMENT WITH BOLTS.

You'll see that it is just as he said - drill and then ream to within .005" of the bolt size. And while they talk about using Grade 5 bolts, they do say "Grade 8 bolts may be substituted for any application."

I don't mean to suggest grade 8 can't be used.

I was trying to convey best practices as outlined by Ford and the fastener industry in general.

Thank you for that link, Gary.

You continue to amaze me with the variety and sheer volume of technical documentation available through/on the forum.

[Gary Lewis]

I don't mean to suggest grade 8 can't be used.I was trying to convey best practices as outlined by Ford and the fastener industry in general.Thank you for that link, Gary.You continue to amaze me with the variety and sheer volume of technical documentation available through/on the forum.

Jim - You didn't suggest Grade 8's can't be used. You said "Grade 5 does hold some advantage to grade 8" and I took that to mean that they can certainly be used.

 

As for the variety and volume on here, there are a bunch of pages. Over 550 at last count and I've added more since then. And many of those pages have multiple tabs, many of which have documents on them. I would hesitate to guess how many documents we have, but surely in the high hundreds.I'm playing "librarian" connecting people with documentation. But there needs to be a better way.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - You didn't suggest Grade 8's can't be used. You said "Grade 5 does hold some advantage to grade 8" and I took that to mean that they can certainly be used.

 

As for the variety and volume on here, there are a bunch of pages. Over 550 at last count and I've added more since then. And many of those pages have multiple tabs, many of which have documents on them. I would hesitate to guess how many documents we have, but surely in the high hundreds.I'm playing "librarian" connecting people with documentation. But there needs to be a better way.

Time and again I've found out there is information here that simply isn't visible to me with my browser of choice on a mobile device.Without you as librarian I wouldn't even know what I don't know...

[Gary Lewis]

Time and again I've found out there is information here that simply isn't visible to me with my browser of choice on a mobile device.

Without you as librarian I wouldn't even know what I don't know...

Jim - Maybe we have a bust in the way we are presenting TSB's. Can you not get to Documentation/TSB's/Brakes Steering & Suspension/96-15-11 FRAME - RIVET REPLACEMENT WITH BOLTS via the menu?

I'm guessing that, assuming you can't, that it is because the TSB's page is clickable. If so I can fix that. Sorry, but let me know, please.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - Maybe we have a bust in the way we are presenting TSB's. Can you not get to Documentation/TSB's/Brakes Steering & Suspension/96-15-11 FRAME - RIVET REPLACEMENT WITH BOLTS via the menu?

I'm guessing that, assuming you can't, that it is because the TSB's page is clickable. If so I can fix that. Sorry, but let me know, please.

I don't even have the little hamburger menu to click... in order to see the documentation button any more (on my Android phone)

This means I can't be as helpful as I'd like, but I also understand that nothing is everything for everyone.

You are already doing your best to resolve the issues with Nabble and migrate to a new server where you (and team Gabble) will have more granular control over how the forum behaves.

None of this is criticism, just observable fact.

 

[Gary Lewis]

I don't even have the little hamburger menu to click... in order to see the documentation button any more (on my Android phone)

This means I can't be as helpful as I'd like, but I also understand that nothing is everything for everyone.

You are already doing your best to resolve the issues with Nabble and migrate to a new server where you (and team Gabble) will have more granular control over how the forum behaves.

None of this is criticism, just observable fact.

You are apparently going directly into the Nabble server instead of going in via the embedded forum on the website. You should go here and probably keep a tab open to that 'cause the emails we get send us directly to the Nabble server and you'll never see the menu.

http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/