Thread: Stainless Steel Bolt replacements for Defender 110 ?!?!

I’ve got another thumb up for Stig Fasteners. I used them a lot over the years and they are a really good company to deal with. All my Defenders in the UK had the stainless Torx replacements (with the proper preparation) and I firmly believe in their merits.

Road salt does however make it a near necessity to do it in the UK, but do you really need it around here (honest question guys!)? I live in Karratha next to a mangrove swamp and I go to the beach at least once a week to walk the dog. Mine’s coming up to 2 years old now and I haven’t got a hint of rust (or any discolouration) on any of my bolts except for the towbar ones which you can’t replace in any case.

Is it easy to replace the hinge bolts in the Tdi for example? Are the nuts that the bolts screw into captive nuts or is it more drama than that ?

Thanks to all for your replies and detailed information. Please keep the opinions and information flowing.

Cheers,
Dave

Vladtepes - I recently replaced all my door hinge bolts with stainless. Bolts were from British Off Road. Also had to repalce a couple of hinges that were worn.

and I used this as an example.

Guide to Removing Defender Door Hinges From Bulkhead | Repair My Landrover

As for the captive nuts, Mine were ok and I just soaked them in lanotec and reused them.

But, I was in Supercheap the other day and notice that they have captive nuts that look very similar They are in little packets hanging on a rack with other stainless steel fasteners.

For the rest, I just take a sample and go to my local bolt place and ask for replacements in stainless steel or coated grade 8.8 HT.

Cheers
Andrew

Are you willing to tell us how much that little exercise wet you back $ wise?

Just finished replacing the bonnet and door hinges on my single cab still have the floor pan to go. I brought the gear from Stig Fasteners and they recommended using copper grease on the bolts which I did. I have noticed recently my mechanic seems to be using this grease as well. From memory I paid about $80 including freight. My vehicle is 9 years old and the bonnet screws were all rusted and several of the door bolts were the same. I did get the stainless captive nuts as well.

I removed the door inners to get to the nuts on the inside of the doors and found a few areas of rust inside them as well which I fixed so it was a worthwhile exercise. However I'm still trying to find an ideal replacement for the black gunk which holds the plastic sheeting (vapour barrier I believe) onto the door, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Greg

We have recently replaced all the screws in the footwells with stainless.It seems the foam under the rubber mats in the Puma seem to take ages to dry after they get wet,helping all the screws to rust.Many are self tappers.Have done the rear footwell one's as well.

Paint on the chassis,axles,etc is very poor,so if they aren't kept covered with Tectyl or something similar,rust seems to appear quickly.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The effect is not that simple - but probably worse is that most stainless steels will work harden and crack with vibration or cyclic loading. To amplify the original "Just don't replace any on anything that requires a high tensile bolt" - don't replace anything where failure of the fastener would be critical.

Stainless is no worse than mild steel in setting up a galvanic cell to corrode aluminium, the difference is that the stainless makes better contact unless precautions are taken as it has no paint or oxide layer. Galvanised or, better, sherardised (not zinc plated) fasteners last nearly as long in most conditions and the zinc protects the aluminium close to it as well - e.g. galvanised cappings on older Landrovers. (Galvanised bolts and nuts are hard to find these days and sherardised ones almost impossible)

John

John,

I remember a lot of problems back in the UK in my motorbike days. Stainless bolts holding thin aluminium mudguards in combination with the rock salt they used on the roads in winter and the aluminium corroded badly. Change back to galvanised or cad plated bolts and problem went away. Less of an issue here unless you are beach driving.

Galvanic Series Relationships are shown here (tested in seawater)
Galvanic series


Colin