Ring gear bolts

[Andy1]

I read where articles states "Never reuse ring gear bolts"
What is the reasons behind this if they look good - strecth?
Does anyone ever reuse them?
How is the best way to hold the spool to torque to 120 lbs?

[Andy's01]

Andy, they say not to use the same bolts because of a couple of reasons. #1 is stretch and #2 you are supposed to use red lock-tite on them and it is hard to get them out without damage to the threads. I dont use red lock-tite so mine were ok. I have never heard of anyone breaking the bolts that were not running a drag car.

I did not even worry about the 120 ft/lb as I used a 500 ft/lb impact to put them one. LOL

I saw a guy mount an old shaft in a vice and then slid the diff onto the shaft and torqued the bolts that way. He was workingon a spool however and it may not work for a reg. diff.

[Gubni]

Yeah they supposedly stretch. I reuse them. It's important to torque to the spec of your diff. I just mount the carrier or spool in a vise and use a torque wrench.

I have broke the bolts before. I had a bad torque wrench. I have also heard of jeep axles breaking bolts just randomly.

[Jeep07]

I just put the ring gear on a Toyota carrier tonight and reused the bolts.. They looked fine... I'm not to worried about it.

[HotRodYJ]

The bolts will stretch and work harden. They are designed to yield one time and one time only just like head bolts in most modern engines. Half of the time when you re-torque them back to spec they will break. ALWAYS use a torque wrench because having the bolts evenly tightened is critical to make sure the thing stays together and stays true and straight. I too have reused them when I just didn't have the option, but if your putting in a brand new set of gears I'd spring the extra for new bolts and do it right. Actually most new gear sets will come with a new set of bolts and a packet of Loctite. I'm sure all of them don't but alot of them do. When I do reuse the bolts I'll set the torque 5 ft/lbs below recommended and always use Loctite. Just imagine the damage that could occur when you loose one bolt. I worked on a TJ once where the ring gear bolts either came out or broke, I can't remember which but it wasn't pretty. The guy had to find another set of gears to put it back toegether with. That one was factory and had never been apart but it started loosing bolts for some reason.

[Andy1]

Thanks guys for the input. I ended up getting new bolts as they were less than $10.00; however I would've reused them if much more. Plus they did look good.

To hold the spool to torque the bolts on the ring gear I used a vise. Opened the vise up and set a short 2x4 in each jaw. Inserted spool and clamped down. Worked perfect!

One great item setting up the gears was an old set of carrier bearings that were honed out. NO new bearings destroyed and this was a blessing which saved $$$ and setup time :grin: :grin:

Thanks again!!