im looking for you standard 82* countersunk bolt, but instead of a recessed hex im looking for a extruded hex.
i want this
but in a 3/8" to be used with the countersunk on my diff covers. im sick of having to weld a nut to the countersunk hex bolts every time i need to pull the cover, plus i cant get enough torque on them without bending or twisting the allen.
anyone? i also thought about standard bolts with a cone washer, but i cant find shit anywhere.
Christine said they dont exist as far as she know. I was hoping someone on here was having the same problem. For now i guess ill just get some more allen head ones. Maybe ill jig something up to weld a nut onto the allen head ones and make my own version for yhe time being.
I had the same problem. I took a bolt down to my machinist and had him cut some countersunk washers with the right taper for the holes with a hole in them for the bolt. It also is good in case you mess up a bolt, just re-use the washer.
Works perfectly to solve that little problem and I have very good Allen wrenches. It also solved the weeping issue I had due to housing flex breaking the seal on the RTV.
I've only been able to find those bolts like you posted a pic of used on the T-case skid on TJ's and YJ's in 1/2-13 and 12mm and some sizes in wheelbolts. Nothing small enough for a diff cover and the ones I did were 5/16's or you could use some of the extras I had made.
I'm working on the same issue on my friends Rock Jock rear end. Had to weld nuts to three of his bolts. It's weird that nobody has these. It totally makes sense with the aluminum housing to use the cover as a structural member you need the taper countersunk bolts, but the tiny allen wrench you are forced to use is useless against all the surface area of that taper. If I find something, I'll let you know, but I'll probably end up welding nuts to a set of screws.
BTW- those Napa brake screws have the wrong taper, but nice find anyway.
Just do what I did.
I got sick of having my bolts getting loose because of housing flex. I drilled and tapped all of the front 60 cover bolts to 1/2" bolts with flat washers and the bottom 2 to 7/16" countersunk flat head. For the bottom 2, I turned the screws down in OD to fit into the 3/8 counter screw holes. I no longer have loose bolts.
BTW most of the covers that include countersunk holes do not have them perfectly aligned. (Info from Carl Jantz) Which leads to loose fasteners, because the fasteners are not aligned with the holes. Your better off with flat washers.
I don't see why the people that run the RJ housings with the links mounts mounted to the cover or others that run the steering rams mounted to the cover don't run bigger screws/bolts.
The RJ link mounts are to the top of the housing, not the cover.
I totally agree that most countersunk holes in covers for OEM diffs are useless. My experience with that is a Crane cover on a 14b, a Ruff Stuff cover on a different 14b, and a Poison Spider cover on a D60 front. I had to adjust some holes on all of these covers on the mill. I think there are just variations in the OE bolt patterns that the OEs compensate for with oversize holes in the stock diff cover. You are better off with regular bolts and straight holes.
On the other hand, the aftermarket housings have precise bolt patterns and in the case of the aluminum RJ, the cover is a structural member, so the tapers are very important. In this case, cone washers do not do as good a job of keeping the cover centered as a countersunk bolt will. Unless the cone washers are split like the cones on a D44 steering knuckle, there is still play between the washer and the bolt- as if it were just a straight hole- so why not just use a straight hole and a screw with a flat washer?
You're trying to split hair and I can tell you from actually doing this that the cone washer without a split works perfectly. It does not need a split in it and they will work fine.
I've had good results using coupling nuts and machining a taper on one end to hold high steer arms, external locking hubs, ect. McMaster-Carr
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