Hey guys -

Quick question before I rip out my seat bolts on my 2dr:

Are all 4 bolts the same size? I want to replace them with stainless versions because they are already starting to get surface rust. I figured I'd swap them out before the rust spreads to the seat brackets.

Thanks!

 

I just ripped my passenger seat out and all 4 bolts appear to be the same. Have fun getting those out tho--they put a lot of threadlocker on them but they're not impossible to get out.

 

I would not use stainless either. If they are rusting I would take them out and treat them with rust inhibitor and repaint them.

Stainless will not be as strong as the stock and also there is the chance of yielding the treads by over tightening. If you do that, you will have to cut them. They will never back out, no matter how big the breaker bar.

 

Well, I already ended up swapping them out. I put loctite on the threads before replacing them and gave them each a quick torque with my impact wrench.

The rust was already starting to spread to the seat brackets although it was small.

I did the same thing in my 97 Cherokee, although I didn't use stainless bolts. They kept re-rusting after the salty PA winters so I got pissed off and wanted to do stainless this time. They are the same exact size as the ones that were in there. Is stainless really that much weaker than galvanized metal?

I hate rust, especially on the INSIDE of my vehicle!

 

Your biggest problem won't be that they will snap. You will just not likely be able to remove them in a few years. Stainless does not have the elasticity that regular steel does. To much torque or a stretching force on the bolt and the threads will stretch and not go back. That bolt will now be a permanent part of the jeep if that happens. At work I have seen countless stainless bolts had to be cut since they yielded the threads.

If you ever want to be able to remove the seat get the bolts out now and hope its not already too late.

 

Well, I don't forsee needing to remove them again. I used medium grade loctite.

I didn't torque them down a crazy amount.

I hate living in PA because they salt the sh*t out of the roads here and then it wreaks havoc on everything else.

 

Mine aren't rusted and I had mine since December of 06 and have over 52k miles on mine.

I am only about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh so I know what you mean about the salt. My 82 CJ7 is more or less just a mound of rust.....

 

Well, all of mine were rusting on the heads of the bolts along with the washers.

The drivers side one was the worst. I'm pretty clean too, I think rust just follows me. My muffler looks like it's about 10 years old and it's only 2 years old and 25k miles.