Suspension and torque to yield bolts and reuse

[Flyingtexan]

About to do some serious suspension mods to the 2025 GT. Practically every bolt and nut requires the replacement according to the Ford factory manual because they're torque to yield. I've been doing this along time, Fox body, SN195 etc. I've never seen this. Calling the dealerships looking for these bolts and nuts, none of them are in stock which tells me their not, as a routine replace according to the Ford manual, just reused. Guidance I've encountered is if it has a torque spec it's not torque to yield, just torque and move on. THOUGHTS?

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[Flyingtexan]

Let me just post this too. I may have answered my question:

Number of engineers in the USA 2008, 1.6 million.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

Number of lawyers in the USA in 2007, 1.14 million.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_lawyers_are_in_the_US

I wonder what the ratios of these two professions are in other countries.

 

[Will2]

Curious to hear technician or expert opinions on this.

On Camaros and Corvettes I've encountered alignment hardware being TTY/1-time use, but I don't know if people ever actually get a proper job per OEM protocol. Best alignment shop in town was pissed when I asked if I could supply them 1-time use bolts for a Camaro--they were concerned the job would take more time than their easy-money slapdash churn jobs like Becky's RAV4. Dunno if they were BSing me, but they claimed they'd never replaced 1-time use hardware before "You would be the first", and even for Mercedes that require 1-time use hardware they never do it either.

 

[Skye]

I'm including @LevittownFordParts in this thread; they are a sponsor of the site and supporter. You can also PM them directly with the part numbers you're seeking. Please include your VIN in the PM.

There's also Ford OEM parts on-line and Ford Performance; they might have some of these items.

https://ford.oempartsonline.com/

https://performanceparts.ford.com/

Aftermarket vendors may have offerings of the correct specifications.

I've never re-used a TTY bolt. Everything I've read of their design, they stretch to a given shape to maintain a given amount of force, and never return to their original form. Further, the original materials are then fatigued.

The problem with re-use is akin to lubricating threads on a bolt, then torquing to a reading: what you think you've tightened a given bolt to is not what it really is.

 

[goodlettjr]

They need to be replaced.

On your thoughts about stocking the parts. This is the world I live it. Once managed the largest Ford parts department in the nation. Now manage / oversee 40 heavy truck dealerships (parts departments). Typical stocking requirements for a non OEM managed inventory is 3 hits to a bin in 12 months. That means a minimum of 3 sales regardless of the qty sold in 12 months and it would be stocked. Today, OEMs are managing inventories. I can’t speak on Ford as I have been gone from that roles for 8 years, but suspension parts do not get replaced that often outside of wreck jobs. Most body shops deal with the larger wholesaling dealers. These large wholesaling dealers are fairly rare in most parts of the country as the ROI, inventory turns, GP% etc, can be dismal. This drives more and more dealers to either order on demand from the local FAD, PDC, or another dealer to fill the request. On top of that, returning parts to Ford when I left was a hard option. You had two choices. 1. Return and special order parts in 30 days or 2. take a 1% parts credit and never return any parts. Most did the later.

In our world it takes $2 to write off $1. Parts become obsolete at 12 months in a parts inventory world. My dealer process was we wrote off any parts once they hit 2 years in inventory with 0 sales. Scrap it and write it off. The chance of a part selling after 12 month of 0 sales is about 3% and it gets down below 1% in a few more months.

Knowing all of this, as a consumer there are times I just can’t wrap my head around why a place doesn’t have something in stock as well.

 

[n_123]

I reused mine

 

[SSuperDave]

At the dealership level, on a warranty repair, Ford requires one time used parts to be charged on the repair order or they will not pay for the repair. The general consensus is the reason they do this is because these one-time use parts all come with thread sealer already on them, and they don't trust that the text will use thread sealer when they reassemble it with the old bolts. It's a pain for sure when you got a big job and it's being held up by one bolt that's on backorder. On the customer pay side we also have to use them or Fords to your guarantee will not apply. On my own stuff, On my own stuff, the only thing I would not reuse is head bolts.

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