For the second time in as many years as Ive had my Innovative traction bar, I was under the car doing inspection and noticed my traction bars radius rod to LCA bolts, all 4 of them, were loose.

I know surely I had them tightened, but they seem to work there way free after 2-5k miles (car doesnt get many miles but is daily driven) So my alignment is out of wack again but before heading back Id like to try any solutions

Im thinking longer bolts may help, as it looks like there are many thread left in the control arm. Im also thinking I may safety wire the bolts. I believe I used loctite blue last time but would like to avoid red on these bolts for future alignments, safety wire would surely stop them from backing out, but is quite the pain to install the safety wire/drill the bolts

Does anyone know the stock length and pitch of the bolts? If my memory serves me right they are fine thread M12 but I may be mistaken

 

I was bored enough I pulled a stock bolt off my car and measured for reference.

M12 X 1.25 pitch X 31mm

Doing a quick search online, this is a VERY rare thread and pitch and is going to be difficult to source a longer high grade bolt

 

A quick google search turned up quite a few results. Although most of them were a hex head instead of a flange head like OEM. Does the head type matter to you or only grade and length? What total length are you looking for?

 

Same thing is happening to me, it doesn't help that I have 90a Hasport mounts insert,I just used some blue loktite, and call it a day

 

Well it is a very tight spot to get a wrench on these bolt heads but flanged shouldnt matter as I can use a flat stainless fender washer if needed.

I would think 35 or 40mm would be optimal as the 31mm factory bolt seems like it has plenty more threads it could grab for piece of mind

 

I have had the same happen before. Red loctite should work as long as given time to cure. For removal apply heat from a torch to the bolt and the loctite should loosen up.

If you want a longer bolt I think you may have to go through Honda. It appears McMaster Carr and Fastenal do not have M12x1.25 thread pitch.

 

My alignment guy charges enough for alignments, Im not going to make him fight red loctite lol, I will most likely be drilling the bolt heads for safety wire which is a pita but atleast I can take it off pre alignment and install it again when he is done and be positive it will hold the bolts securely

I wish I could get a TQ wrench on these bolts to be sure Im getting close to the required 74ft/lbs but the damn axle makes the one bolt only wrench accessible

 

FYI: Red Loctite removal = localized heat greater than 550° F.

 

Was under the car again this morning, one of the 4 wasnt as tight as I set it, less than 50miles....

just bought (4) 40mm grade 12.9 allen head bolts and I will safety drill them when they arrive, its easier to get an allen wrench in the area aswell rather than a wrench that you get a 1/16 of a turn on

 

These are the ones I was going to suggest to you but the price is pretty hard to justify....

Titanium Hex Flange Bolt M12X35 [HF1235-1.25] - $17.95 : Racebolts, High Performance titanium parts at Titanium Performance

I'd be interested in seeing how your safety wired bolts come out though if you feel like posting them up after install.

 

Steel would probably be a better choice than titanium for this location.
A couple titanium bolts have very little weight advantage over steel.
Titanium has about half the resistance to flex than steel.
Titanium also has a higher tendency to galling. If the stress of the radius rod is causing flex, then the titanium may fuse into the steel threads. I guess that will solve the backing out problem, but you won't ever get that bolt out when you want to ... never ever.

 

I think mine may be doing the same thing. I'll be inspecting this weekend.

 

All very good points 4drEF. I wasn't intending to imply that titanium was the best choice for that specific bolt, especially given the cost. I was just pointing out that dimensionally it was just what he was looking for. I personally like the fact that it has a flange head like OEM, I'm kind of **** about stuff like that.

Which got me thinking, I wonder if there's an OEM bolt that meets his specs for another location/model year/etc.?

 

Oh there is! Luckily I have a friend behind the parts counter and we spent some time looking this morning. This bolt is a motor mount bolt from a 2007 Honda Crv EX. M12X1.25 40mm length and best part it was only $1.50 each at the dealer!!! Flanged and high grade Honda bolt.



I was a little leary on orderring them as the computer said they werent fully threaded, but the unthreaded part is very short and the thickness of the Innovative bar makes it a non issue, I already installed them and 40mm is the perfect length for an Si control arm, they use almost exactly ALL of the stock threads

I did also drill the heads of the bolts for safety wire, as I believe my 90a motor mounts to be the cause of bolts backing out on the car, so there is safety wire in a few crucial places on the car, this just being another that I will install after the car is aligned after new tires.

 

I will be ordering these Monday!

Thanks!

 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!