confused again

[el dub]

So I took my steering unit out and had it rebuit a couple of weeks ago and I figured I would clean the bolts. I had trouble getting them out, one in particular but upon cleaning them, well what does the pic tell you? What caused this. Aren't these hardened bolts.

[charger Downunder]

I thought they were made like that so they don't work loose and fall out.

[tan top]

yeah thats what they should look like 

[Troy]

That's how all of mine look.

Troy

[twodko]

 

[el dub]

I thought they were made like that so they don't work loose and fall out.

That is what I was thinking but I didn't know if they were put in like that from the get go or were they put in then somehow distorted?, bunged up, the threads, in place or what. Am I supposed to reuse or buy new ones. Anybody know the torque values? PS, still no FSM in my hands.

[hemigeno]

I thought they were made like that so they don't work loose and fall out.

I think the deformations at the tip are intended to be there and are more for ease of initial installation (i.e. on the assemly line).  These really weren't self-tapping bolts or anything, but the K-frame was already painted when these bolts were installed.  Could be they had a problem with dried paint sitting in the threads making installing the bolts harder and/or stripping either the bolt or the threads during the attempt.  Add a tapered and serrated section of thread to the bolt tip and voila, problem solved without having to use a thread chaser prior to installation.



As for torque values, the FSM (strangely) says manual steering "Gear Assembly to Frame Bolt" gets 80 ft/lbs, but Power Steering "Gear Housing to Frame Bolt" is only 55 ft/lbs on a Charger.  I would have guessed both boxes would have been torqued down the same.  Use some blue Lok-Tite (or whatever favorite brand of thread lock you use) on those bolts in addition to the lock washer.  I've had those bolts back out several times on me even after retorquing - one even fell out and was lost while going down the road several years back.  Good way to crack a housing and/or lose your ability to steer altogether  

Oh, and it's OK to re-use those bolts.  They look fine -- as long as the 12 point head is in good enough shape to torque the bolt down.

[mopar0166]

I just did mine and that confused me as well, but they went back in ok the top out side bolt was a pain to get back in but the other two no sweat

[el dub]

Thanks Hemigeno for the info. Your idea makes sense to me but I think I will crank down my power steering unit to 80 lbs. I did bung up one of the heads on 1 bolt. Anyone see these bolt in the aftermarket.

[Kern Dog]

Wow. The general consensus is that the factory used these crappy looking bolts?
I remember pulling mine out when I did a Firm Feel swap into the Charger. Mine ALSO looked bungered up on the ends. This is a wierd thing. It appears that if an installer isn't right on the money, he could cross thread the bolts and REALLY screw himself.

[1969chargerrtse]

Kinda cool how that type of design and engineering for a bolt is done.