Warning: Breaking steering arm bolts!
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:06 am
This may well be old news, but I thought I should share this:
I was recently rebuilding the front axle of my sisters ´95 80 series LandCruiser, simply because of oil leakage, and discovered that two of the four bolts that hold the steering arm underneath the passenger side knuckle were broken. A visual inspection did not reveal this ´cause the cones that go around the bolts held them in place. This particular LC is totally stock except for 33" tires, maybe a slight lift to acommodate the tires.
NEVER DRIVEN OFF ROAD! Just an in town commuter for my sister and her kids. It was a shock: Toyotas are supposed to be practically inf***ingdestructible.
I spoke to one of the main builders at Arctic Trucks and he told me that this was not unknown on big-tired off-roaders, but a street vehicle????
The driver side is less suspectible of course, but still............
My personal theory is that the bolts are too strong, that is to say that they "feel" like 12.9 bolts, and that may simply be too brittle for the side loads they are subjected to. I´d rather use 10.9 bolts for this kind of application.
They would have to be specially made because the threads are two different non-standard threads: 1.5mm for the knuckle end and 1.25mm for the nut end, while standard 12mm threads are 1.75mm.
I´d be careful though about applying that theory; questions about liability might arise if it´s wrong.
Icelandic engineers accept 10.9 bolts in this kind of applications if the threads are rolled, with cut threads the bolts must be 12.9.
So if you drive a Toyota with the steering arm bolted onto the knuckle;
Check out the bolts: Simply try turning them with a short wrench or ratchet. If they´re broken, they´ll turn rather easy. If not, it takes quite a force to move them as they are tightened to 95Nm.
Ingthorsson.
I was recently rebuilding the front axle of my sisters ´95 80 series LandCruiser, simply because of oil leakage, and discovered that two of the four bolts that hold the steering arm underneath the passenger side knuckle were broken. A visual inspection did not reveal this ´cause the cones that go around the bolts held them in place. This particular LC is totally stock except for 33" tires, maybe a slight lift to acommodate the tires.
NEVER DRIVEN OFF ROAD! Just an in town commuter for my sister and her kids. It was a shock: Toyotas are supposed to be practically inf***ingdestructible.
I spoke to one of the main builders at Arctic Trucks and he told me that this was not unknown on big-tired off-roaders, but a street vehicle????
The driver side is less suspectible of course, but still............
My personal theory is that the bolts are too strong, that is to say that they "feel" like 12.9 bolts, and that may simply be too brittle for the side loads they are subjected to. I´d rather use 10.9 bolts for this kind of application.
They would have to be specially made because the threads are two different non-standard threads: 1.5mm for the knuckle end and 1.25mm for the nut end, while standard 12mm threads are 1.75mm.
I´d be careful though about applying that theory; questions about liability might arise if it´s wrong.
Icelandic engineers accept 10.9 bolts in this kind of applications if the threads are rolled, with cut threads the bolts must be 12.9.
So if you drive a Toyota with the steering arm bolted onto the knuckle;
Check out the bolts: Simply try turning them with a short wrench or ratchet. If they´re broken, they´ll turn rather easy. If not, it takes quite a force to move them as they are tightened to 95Nm.
Ingthorsson.