Series 3 Bolts.

I am interested to know if there is a full list of bolts and fasteners required to do a complete rebuild including new chassis of a Series 3 seven seater. I am aware that one supplier can provide complete marked sets but I am looking for the list as I would like to use Stainless Steel in certain locations

Make sure that if you replace owt with stainless that its up to the job.
A2 stainless from memory is as strong as a high tensile 8.8 steel bolt, so they'd replace most of them on the series, I never looked at the rating of things like leaf spring hanger bolts, I'd be inclined to replace these and others like steering items with the original.
There have been serious bumps with landys, I know its highly unlikely however I wouldnt want to have the finger pointed if some of the stuff I used was sub standard.

Just rebuilt a series 3 88" (just a bit of bodywork left to do) having replaced all nuts and bolts. Used a kit from www.lrfastners.co.uk - really helpful people.

I would advise against going down the stainless route for everything. I just used stainless on a nuts and bolts on the chassis - that wern't overlly weight bearing (e.g. gearbox cross member, steering relay box, etc) but stuck to originals for everything else. The strength of the shackle bolts & U bolts are designed for the job they do - you know there strong enough and won't give trouble. Providing you grease them up and maintain the vehicle well..it shouldnt be a problem.

It's all about personal preference, I can't say I was massively worried about the strength capabilities of stainless vs. standard, but for resale value and peace of mind...just seemed a risk that wasn't worth taking, for ultimately trying to get the bolts to last another 20years..by which time the rest of the vehicle will be in tatters anyway!

Just as a side note - if you want the lists for each nut and bolt and where they go etc...get the parts catalogue for your model...to be honest, if your undertaking a complete rebuild..you should have one anyway - priceless thing..

Matt

Will you not get a cathodic type reaction by having two different metals together i.e. st/st bolt and an iron hanger?

I used all original bolts on my springs etc. they are at least designed to do the job.

Good luck anyway

Andy

astro ash said:

Will you not get a cathodic type reaction by having two different metals together i.e. st/st bolt and an iron hanger?

Click to expand...

I don't remember everything from chemistry classes ... it were a few decades ago(!), but the way I recall it you get galvanic reactions between dissimilar metals, for instance like the ally skin on the steel doorpanel corrodes and goes white due to electrical contact with the steel (incidentally, you should be able to stop this happening if you can insulate the door skin from the steel frame).

The 'iron' hangar mentioned is not really iron, but is a steel. Steel is an alloy formed largely from iron with other elements added to give it required properties. To make that steel 'stainless', the proportion of one of those elements, Chromium, is increased to something like 12 or 13%.

The net galvanic difference between the two steels is therefore pretty small as they are largely the same thing, ie mostly iron.

disclaimer: these memories are at least a quarter of a century old and not necessarily entirely correct ....

You can go into it really deep if you wanted, like 309, 316 stainless etc refers to the ratio of the metal alloys within, theres even an L version 316L, which is a low carbon alloy designed so that it can be welded, as standard stainless the chromium gets forced away from the weld with the heat, leaving a carbon rich area therefore very brittle.
The tensile strength of a bolt is very important, if you used too big a diameter bolt then odd as it sounds it could well be more likely to fail, Ford found this out with engine mount bolts, which is why they now have a 'wasted' thinner section in the middle, a bolt under the correct tension is stronger, if you replace a steel bolt with a stainless, you'll affect this and the fastener may not have the holding power as the original.
Ok I'm getting silly better shut up now.