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best source for LONG D30 cover bolts?

in4aride

in4aride

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Montrose
need to get this cover on my sisters rig but holy jesus its damn near 1/2" thick! Whats a good source for longer than stock quality bolts? OR do you folks just toss in some form the hardware store?
 
hardware store should be fine. you can drop the coin on some grade 8s if you really want to but it's not holding any sort pressure in so I wouldn't bother.
 
Cool. Ya I dont need grade 8 by any means. just dont want any bolts that break off as i tighten them (had it happen before)
 
it wasnt a grade 8 bolt. I said i dont need grade 8. way over kill for the application. The last time i needed longer diff bolts i grabbed some bulk bolts and figured they would be fine. They were just so cheap apparently as 2 broke off threading in. (were not cross threaded, and next set of bolts went in just fine) and didnt want to deal with that PITA again
 
Personally I would go to the hardware sellin' emporium and get some stainless steel bolts in the appropriate size, then install them with some anti-sleaze to keep everything easily maintainable. Be aware though that you should install them with a torque wrench, they're stronger than Grade 2 but weaker than Grade 5, which is probably what the stock bolts are (or 8.8 for metric which is roughly equivalent.)

If you anticipate serious rock crawling and shear loads on your diff cover, get Grade 5 or 8.8, but they'll be zinc plated and should be painted over after installation if you're serious about details.
 
in4aride said:
it wasnt a grade 8 bolt. I said i dont need grade 8. way over kill for the application. The last time i needed longer diff bolts i grabbed some bulk bolts and figured they would be fine. They were just so cheap apparently as 2 broke off threading in. (were not cross threaded, and next set of bolts went in just fine) and didnt want to deal with that PITA again
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that you probably went to a store where the generic bulk bolts were Grade 2 or unrated, don't use those, they're not acceptable for anything on an automobile. I had a fun experience where I went to try to fix a leak on a water pump manifold on an old Studebaker V-8 and due to a previous "mechanic" having used cheap unrated bolts I ended up having to pull the radiator to drill out the three or four out of eight bolts that snapped off in the block... @#$%#$^&

Oh, and anti-seize is your friend.
 
Ace hardware has grade 5.
 
I run grade 8 (when I don't have stock ones, which are a grade 8 I think?) simply because they don't get munched up as much on rocks. IIRC the stock bolts are SAE thread so they are not going to be class 8.8 or any other metric class, they will be grade 2/5/8.
 
What do you think of counter sinking the bolts. I've got plenty of room lol. this will be a very light wheeler/camper/dd.
 
If you have the means of doing it accurately then go for it, my ruff stuff has counter sunk allen head bolts and its nice when I don't have to deal with mangled bolt heads especially on the front cover.

Counter sinking them will also allow the cover to be more rigidly attached to the diff housing, helping much more with deflection compared to just regular bolts and holes that loosely fit over them.
 
Agreed. Just gotta get them right on center or you'll be fighting to get the bolts in and torqued without it warping and trying to move around on you.
 
I doubt this thing will warp. weighs as much as both knuckles! but ya ill get it set up for recessed holes and get it tossed on.
 
Recessed or countersunk? Recessed should be easy, countersunk I'd want to do on a cnc mill after exactly measuring the bolt pattern.
 
see if you can buy a set of allen bolts from ruffstuff, i personally have not ever been able to find them easily in stores but I'm sure they would gladly sell you some. Having the bolts on hand while countersinking the holes on the cover would be handy to get them nice and flush.
 
in4aride said:
What do you think of counter sinking the bolts. I've got plenty of room lol. this will be a very light wheeler/camper/dd.
Click to expand...
It sounds like drain bamage.
 
jeeperjohn said:
If you break grade 8 bolts putting them in a diff cover then you are way overtightening them. I think the spec is 35 foot pounds.
Click to expand...

Or you're using Chinese crap.

Stock cover screws are 5/16"-18x3/4", so just get longer if you need them (thumb rule is that you want about the nominal diameter of the screw for thread engagement - 1/4"-3/8" will do here.

Fastenal will have better screws than hardware stores, and "Farm & Fleet" supply houses usually do good as well.
 
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