Spring install and bolt replacement

For the folks who have installed springs on your ride, did you follow Ford guidelines and install new bolts where specified?

I tend to be "by the book" to a fault sometimes. I am about to order all new bolts from ford, but thought I would check with the team here.

I did not. Most did not. I get the suspicion you will lol.

But honestly there is no reason you "have" to. They have to be knocked out and I think they assume someone will ruin the threads but if you do it right you will not hurt the threads.

I did not

Thank you very much. I am on the fence with this.

I had a whole slew of suspension parts installed by Steeda. For the spring install they did not use new bolts. Honestly, I have not seen anyone install new bolts with spring installations unless the bolt was stripped or broken.

Todd15Fastback said:

I had a whole slew of suspension parts installed by Steeda. For the spring install they did not use new bolts. Honestly, I have not seen anyone install new bolts with spring installations unless the bolt was stripped or broken.

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Thank you. I was reacting the below. I am such a pain. I create more work for myself. I am horrible to work with.

:frusty:

I didn't replace it.

I didn't. I had a ford tech do it and he never mentioned the need to.

Thanks again.

just ordered my spring compressor.

soon as that arrives, I think I am ready.

Budnr22 said:

Thanks again.

just ordered my spring compressor.

soon as that arrives, I think I am ready.

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How much will that set you back ?

montreal ponies said:

How much will that set you back ?

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$56 on Amazon. Seems like a good enough tool for the few times I will use it.

There are a number of reasons bolts are speced as single use. Most don't really require a replacement. Some like the lower strut bolts can get damaged if removed carelessly, others come with loc-tite which should be freshened up when reusing the bolts.

The bolts are one time use for one reason...they are ''torque to yield'' bolts which means they are torqued to the point where they begin to want to stretch and are close (supposedly) to their overload point.

I re-used mine on my '05 and never had a problem. One rear control arm had a torque spec of 125 ft lb and I just torqued them to about 120 with a little red loctite.

I put new bolts in where specified, they weren't expensive to replace.