Fabtech Wouldnt Help Me With The Broken Bolt!

stlavsa · March 23, 2009

I have a post about breaking the bolt that goes thru the sway bar and the sway bar extension. Turns out the bolt is a little harder to locate than I originally anticipated.

I've visited the local true value, lowes, home depot, and even a fastner supply shop called the nuthouse (thought they would surely have it). None of those places can get the bolt, but the guy at the nut house helped me ID the bolt. Its a m18 x 50 2.5 thread pitch. 10.9 grade. Nobody even has metric bolts, and if they do they stop at m16.

I bought a 3/4 inch bolt because the broken m18 bolt actually threaded into the 3/4 nut so I thought it would fit, but the hole in the sway bar is just a hair to small. I tried finding the bolts online and did a solid 30 minutes of searching through fastner stores online and everyone just has sae or metric to m16.

I contacted Fabtech on the issue, and I was told that "they dont know how the bolt could break" and they also said that if they get me the bolt, its going to require me to purchase an entire hardware bag that has all the bolts in it. Its going to cost $50 + dollars as a quick quote. Needless to say im kinda pissed off about it because we all know how much these kits cost, and they cant give sell me god damn hex cap screw and I did express to him the difficulty im having in locating one. He said they are available. I sure as hell cant find them.

VR021302 · March 23, 2009

try here http://www.aaronsmetricscrews.com/search_m..._cap_screws.htm

EDIT: hope that helps

Draenor · March 23, 2009

I contacted Fabtech on the issue, and I was told that "they dont know how the bolt could break" and they also said that if they get me the bolt, its going to require me to purchase an entire hardware bag that has all the bolts in it.

Thats BS. If they don't know how it could break, they should replace it for free and take back the original for inspection.

If it were me, I'd tell em to give me a RMA so I could return their crap.

nick44 · March 23, 2009

That is some bs I hope it all works out for you!

longhorn_giant · March 23, 2009

McMaster carr is a pretty good place to buy bolts individually also.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#metric-class-10.9...l-bolts/=14pvmu

I did a search and I didn't find any m18 grade 10.9 bolts with 2.5mm thread count. Are you sure it wasn't a m16 or m20? m20 is the one I can find with the thread size you called out. I didn't see any size m18 on the site though.

Best of luck searching.

stlavsa · March 23, 2009

McMaster carr is a pretty good place to buy bolts individually also.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#metric-class-10.9...l-bolts/=14pvmu

I did a search and I didn't find any m18 grade 10.9 bolts with 2.5mm thread count. Are you sure it wasn't a m16 or m20? m20 is the one I can find with the thread size you called out. I didn't see any size m18 on the site though.

Best of luck searching.

Thanks guys for all the help and links..

I couldnt think of mcmaster carr I used to get alot of stuff thru there with my old company. I tried grainger but had no luck.

It also seems like aaronsmetric screws has what I need.. they only have them in grade 8.8 not 10.9 whats the deal with 8.8 vs 10.9

longhorn_giant I am certain its m18, and also, it doesnt really need to be that thread pitch, as long as I could find a nut to match the thread pitch of the bolt that I order, so mcmaster might be an option too.

DofD · March 23, 2009

That is really lame of them to want you to buy the whole bolt kit for one bolt. Not what I could call very good customer service.

stlavsa · March 23, 2009

That is really lame of them to want you to buy the whole bolt kit for one bolt. Not what I could call very good customer service.

if it was a 70 dollar lift kit, yah maybe u gotta buy the bolts.. but for a $1600-1800 suspension lift, I think it is kinda shitty that I cant get one bolt, especially when the damn thing broke 2 days after install.

I will give them credit for contacting me quickly on the issue. I had emailed them over the weekend, and sure enough first thing this morning they called me and explained the situation. At first I was pretty impressed that they were willing to help me so quickly over a measely bolt that i emailed them on.. but then when they wouldnt split up a kit for me that kinda sucks. I was willing to pay for the bolt or hell even a set of two bolts but not +$50 plus shipping.

VR021302 · March 23, 2009

Well the 12.9 is a stronger bolt than the 10.9. You can always upgrade a bolt, just DO NOT downgrade.

stlavsa · March 23, 2009

I just realized that the 12.9 bolts were only partial thread, the only full threads are 8.8 grade.. so that would be a downgrade.

Stevens03 · March 23, 2009

I'd be talking to his boss, whats the warranty on the lift. They should easily be able to supply the bolt especially after just purchasing their kit in todays economy. I'd suggest word of mouth about how well they handled the issue would be alot worse than just sending the bolt you need.

I'd certainly take it up the chain a little further before giving up. Good lord, what if you had another larger piece break, would you have to buy the entire kit!?!?!? WTF is the warranty for if they won't warranty the item within the first month.

Steven

stlavsa · March 23, 2009

I just love how mcmaster-carr skips right from m16 to m20 and skips m18. They have all bolts imagineable besides m18. I know for sure that its m18 we sized it at the nut house. U cant get it at grainger or mcmaster-carr, and im pretty sure you could build an entire car or house with parts from those places they have everything. I am going to call these guys back if I cant find anything.. If I have to buy that bolt kit im going to lose my mind.

VR021302 · March 23, 2009

Steve where do you live at? Like city/state

stlavsa · March 23, 2009

also good point on the warranty I will see if it has any kind of warranty... the thing with the bolt is they will blame it on using an impact, but it wasnt some kind of hog 3/4" impact it was just a standard 1/2" impact and the bolt is 18mm grade 10.9 it surely shouldnt have broken.