First disaster - snapped hood bolt

[Silver Bullitt]

IMO, a 10mm bolt/stud is not big enough to properly support a hood. I checked a 2011 Camaro, 2017 Highlander, 2005 4Runner, 2003 Monte Carlo, and 2011 Tacoma. Everyone of those vehicles use a 13mm bolt/stud to support the hood. This is squarely on Ford.


2011 Camaro

All three Toyotas were the same (this is the 2005 4Runner)

2003 Monte Carlo

2018 Mustang

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[michail71]

I spoke to a friend who has a welding shop and he's going to take a look at it tomorrow. I think he's thinking of press fitting a pre tapped steel sleeve, after removing the existing stud. He said metal epoxy wouldn't be a great solution. He may change his mind after he insepects it, who knows. He said he'll charge me £30 give or take.

I wonder how the carbon fibre hoods come prepared... Like, do they have pre-attached threaded studs generally? Though I think it's a little too early to think about replacing the hood, it could be an option in future.

I thought they were bonnets over there?

£30 doesn't sound bad. One PM I've gotten on here said he paid $400 USD to get a stud epoxied in.

It should be low risk as long as one of the other studs doesn't break in the process.

 

[Cobra Jet]

I just spoke with a friend of mine who owns a welding/metal working business and he believes the best fix is to drill the stud out and insert a press fit threaded insert like the following...

Would you guys potentially recommend away from this approach? Is cold weld a better solution? He didn't seem to like that idea and said it wouldn't be very durable.

He hasn't actually seen the issue yet, I've just described it to him. I'm taking it down tomorrow for him to take a look.

I think the term for those parts is “nutserts” and can be found on McMaster Carr website for misc hardware.

https://www.mcmaster.com

Home Depot supposedly has them via googling too, but not sure of proper size.

 

[BoostedCanadianPoney]

Happened to me and many others on here. I snapped my strut tower stud, whil installing a tower brace, my torque wrench didnt click at 25lbs.... but also I think ford has questionable quality on some studs

 

[drewzh]

I thought they were bonnets over there?

£30 doesn't sound bad. One PM I've gotten on here said he paid $400 USD to get a stud epoxied in.

It should be low risk as long as one of the other studs doesn't break in the process.

I just figured it would be easier to speak in your native tongue

He's a friend of mine, so I imagine that goes a little way. But wow, $400 sounds like somebody got ripped off!

 

[michail71]

I just figured it would be easier to speak in your native tongue

He's a friend of mine, so I imagine that goes a little way. But wow, $400 sounds like somebody got ripped off!

LOL, was are all Top Gear fanatics over here.

 

[GT Pony]

I’m going to say it again, torquing that stud nut to “ft lbs” seems excessive...

The torque units have nothing to do with it. It could be set to 5 ft-lbs, which is 60 in-lbs. I've used an appropriate torque wrench even on fasteners that have a very low torque spec because I don't want to over or under torque them.

 

[GT Pony]

IMO, a 10mm bolt/stud is not big enough to properly support a hood. I checked a 2011 Camaro, 2017 Highlander, 2005 4Runner, 2003 Monte Carlo, and 2011 Tacoma. Everyone of those vehicles use a 13mm bolt/stud to support the hood. This is squarely on Ford.

Can't go by the hex head size. Need to go by the diameter of the threaded portion of the stud or bolt. The torque a fastener can take is also dependent of the quality of the steel. Could be the steel used isn't as good as Ford thinks it is.

 

[GT Pony]

I spoke to a friend who has a welding shop and he's going to take a look at it tomorrow. I think he's thinking of press fitting a pre tapped steel sleeve, after removing the existing stud. He said metal epoxy wouldn't be a great solution. He may change his mind after he insepects it, who knows. He said he'll charge me £30 give or take.

You need a decent depth hole to use those press in sleeves. I doubt there is anything more than some thin sheet metal on the hood to work with where the studs are located. It might work if there's enough sheet metal thickness. Might use some epoxy or JB Weld also to help secure the sleeve.

 

[Silver Bullitt]

Can't go by the hex head size. Need to go by the diameter of the threaded portion of the stud or bolt. The torque a fastener can take is also dependent of the quality of the steel. Could be the steel used isn't as good as Ford thinks it is.

The size (width) of the threads is pretty standard with the size of the head. Compare the thread size then on the Camaro to the Mustang. The pics really don't even show the actual size difference between the two. Sure, metallurgy can definitely make a difference here, but the studs on the Mustang obviously aren't hardened enough to make a difference. The studs are too f***ing small! Period!

 

[michail71]

The size (width) of the threads is pretty standard with the size of the head. Compare the thread size then on the Camaro to the Mustang. The pics really don't even show the actual size difference between the two. Sure, metallurgy can definitely make a difference here, but the studs on the Mustang obviously aren't hardened enough to make a difference. The studs are too f***ing small! Period!

Yeah, it was the first time I've ever broken a stud. It just kind of exploded on me.

Sadly this thread will probably go on for some years.

 

[drewzh]

You need a decent depth hole to use those press in sleeves. I doubt there is anything more than some thin sheet metal on the hood to work with where the studs are located. It might work if there's enough sheet metal thickness. Might use some epoxy or JB Weld also to help secure the sleeve.

That's what concerns me, but we'll see for sure later on... maybe there's some magical slimline version he works with. Either way, I have some quiksteel arriving today from Amazon (JB Weld is a little harder to get hold of over here, but quicksteel is pretty much the same thing).

Watch this space. I don't intend to keep this broken for long. I'll post after pics etc.

 

[Norm Peterson]

The size (width) of the threads is pretty standard with the size of the head. Compare the thread size then on the Camaro to the Mustang. The pics really don't even show the actual size difference between the two. Sure, metallurgy can definitely make a difference here, but the studs on the Mustang obviously aren't hardened enough to make a difference. The studs are too f***ing small! Period!

I took this a little further . . . a 13mm head belongs with M8 threads, and a 10mm head is what an M6 bolt gets.

From there, a Grade 10.9 M6 fastener torque is listed at 17 Nm, which corresponds to 12.5 ft*lbs.

I'm betting on there being a units confusion somewhere along the line.


FWIW, a 3mm fastener probably would be strong enough - under pure tensile loading. But add much of any bending during installation (from any cause, including angular mismatch between the parts being fastened together), quite possibly not. It's not like you're going to be sitting down at a workbench to tighten a hood attachment fastener.


Norm

 

[drewzh]

I don't see what's wrong with the bit of wire Ford fit to keep the bonnet open. It's light and will last the life of the car.

Nothing is wrong with it and you're free to use it but others have a desire to upgrade it, including myself. Nothing wrong with that either!

 

[Norm Peterson]

I don't see what's wrong with the bit of wire Ford fit to keep the bonnet open. It's light and will last the life of the car.

Agreed 100%.

It probably let Ford design the entire hood to be slightly lighter than it would have been had it been designed with struts intended. I guess they didn't count on owner vanity either.


Norm

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