Advice for Sheared Steeda Differential Bolt

Interesting. I had no idea such a thing existed. I might need to buy some and let it sit before drilling more.

I have the black steeda bushings and also have the black metal pucks that are from bmr that a member through in with some parts. But only the rear ones. I was planning on using the 4 steeda inserts but after reading this is want to be very careful. Can't have the same issue. It's my daily driver. So from what I was able to gather is the bushings will serve their purpose but I need to get aluminum bolts? Or did I read it wrong.

The Steeda bolts are made in Germany. They're quality.

Has the OP talked to Steeda? They'd be able tell you how this could possibly happen.

wildcatgoal said:

The Steeda bolts are made in Germany. They're quality.

Has the OP talked to Steeda? They'd be able tell you how this could possibly happen.

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He talked to them. From what I got out of steeda response is they just need to be properly torqued in order to last.

Makes sense to me.

You're modifying a bushing with an insert, of course the replacement bolt should be strong, which they are, and should be properly torqued to ensure load is properly distributed. If not, it makes sense how almost any bolt would break.

I guess I'd rather break the bolt than the differential casing itself if something wasn't right!

Really sucks this happened. It is not common... at all. It's just not.

True. Bmr gave some good insight aswell. Curious if i should install my black steeda inserts and get new bolts or keep these bolts. For sure gonna have a shop do it because being on the floor torqing stuff down is no fun for me. Really want to see the difference they make.

I have these on my car and I'm no more worried than if I had the bmr version. If I really was concerned I'd replace the entire bushing. However that is much much more involved than the steeda bushing insert install. I'd also agree that a broken bolt is better than a broken diff case.

IvanCRF said:

Interesting. I had no idea such a thing existed. I might need to buy some and let it sit before drilling more.

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I don't think that will work to be honest, I just read up on it.

I had a customers EVO X come in for a new clutch about a month ago. He had the roasted clutch put in about a year ago.

Unfortunately the previous installer over torqued one of the steel bolts going into the aluminum casing. So upon removal it snapped.

After about an hour of drilling and tapping it was good to go. As long as you drill straight you'll be ok.

One should definitely torque bolts to spec, especially critical suspension components. If I had tightened those bolts by hand (by feel) I would have never applied the force required to meet spec. They are TIGHT! Food for thought.

Today's update:

All the parts I ordered came in except for my differential cover, which is still in transit.

I have an appointment to press in a bunch of new bearings tomorrow morning for my knuckles and lower control arms. If it doesn't work, I'll buy a press from Harbor Freight for what other shops are charging.

I'm slowly working on the cradle when I can and I'm going to make this cradle bulletproof. Thanks BMR for all the R&D you do and parts you have available.

I was able to knock out the original diff bushings:

Today's update:

I just got back from getting my Ford Racing Knuckle and BMR LCA bearings pressed in. The small shop I went to here in El Paso only had a 6 ton press so I was very skeptical that we could even do it because I read a post on here that a 12 ton even struggled.

We put the Ford Racing bearings in the freezer for a while because they are slightly larger than the OEM rubber ones. The old LCA bearings were very hard to get out because we didn't have a socket the same diameter so a small jigsaw, and lots of hammering got them out.

The 6 ton press did not struggle much, which really surprised me. It took 1.5 hrs from start to end for the whole job.

I spent $50 and helped along the way so I got to learn something too.

Hasta la vista, wheelhop!

Today's update: My new differential cover arrived and I used a screw jack to get the aluminum differential bushings in. I froze my bushings, lubed 'em up, sanded down some of the enamel paint I added, tore up a cheap Harbor Freight dead blow hammer and got nowhere because there isn't much room to swing. My screw jack did the trick going very slowly and I used wood to protect everything.


I still need to drill out my shock mounts for my Konis, install my new vertical links and install the new diff cover this weekend.

Now that I have everything I need plus some goodies, I look forward to assembling everything and getting this badass cradle in. I built it as bulletproof as I could, but I'm a noob. I can't wait to hear my car fire up again.

I expect a lot of vibration with this setup, but this project takes so long for me to do(I still have a ton of work ahead), I decided to never drop my cradle down again so I went with aluminum diff bushings. I think I changed out everything I possibly could to get rid of wheel hop except for the springs since I don't want to lower my car.

This has been a patience building exercise for me and I gained some knowledge with this project too.

Looks like a good time

350Mike said:

Looks like a good time

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Therapy.