Rear Wheel Bolts for Weights

[RWD]

I have a 1948 8n. I also have 6 -100 pound weights which can be mounted on the inside of the rear wheel rims. The holes in the weights line up with the Rear Wheel Bolts - 5/8" - 18 x 2-3/4" Carriage Head/ Center Disc To Rim - Uses 5/8" Fine Thread. What I can"t seem to find are bolts that are 6 1/4 inches long. Does anyone know where these bolts can be had?
thanks.

 

[George1048]

Try Fastenal or McMaster-Carr.

 

[TheOldHokie]

(quoted from post at 18:14:12 04/25/11) I have a 1948 8n. I also have 6 -100 pound weights which can be mounted on the inside of the rear wheel rims. The holes in the weights line up with the Rear Wheel Bolts - 5/8" - 18 x 2-3/4" Carriage Head/ Center Disc To Rim - Uses 5/8" Fine Thread. What I can"t seem to find are bolts that are 6 1/4 inches long. Does anyone know where these bolts can be had?
thanks.

I doubt you will find 6-1/4" long carriage bolts in fine or coarse thread. Try 5/8-11 x 6-1/2 - they will work fine and if the extra 1/4" bothers you take a hacksaw to them. Fastenal has ASTM 307 for 2.75 ea, SAE Grade 5 are 4.00 ea.

TOH

 

[Ultradog MN]

I personally wouldn't pay the extra for the grade 5. No way an N could shear off 6 5/8 grade 2 bolts. A tractor twice the HP of an N couldn't shear them off.
They sell 5/8 11 x 7" at Fleet Farm by the pound.

 

[Paul in MN]

Jerry,

Just by torque alone the N tractors could not likely shear off grade 2 5/8" bolts, but the grade 2 does stretch and thus loosen, and shows wear so much quicker than grade 5. To be safe with wheel bolts, especially if steel ballast weights are riding on the same bolts, please use grade 5 and be safe.

We has a very nasty situation last November with one of our big tractors loosing its left rear wheel at road speed while transporting a 5 bottom plow. All the bolts were original and about 10 years old and had not shown any damage, and the bolt holes also looked good. Son had finished plowing up a 10 acre piece and was roading the tractor back to his place at 11:15 at night. First snow predicted. All 8 wheel bolts failed, wheel came off, tractor fell hard to left side, but not over, front moldboards plowed asphalt (new road) and we had a he11 of a problem. Jacks, blocks, lights, second loader tractor, flashing lights, generator running halogen work lights, enough trucks to totally block the county road, so we would not be hit by some midnight drunk, and the wet snow started. Had stuff off the road, pieces picked up, and back to my shop by 2:30 a.m. I think the first snowplow must have left a couple of deep but short furrows in the asphalt.

Later analysis of parts and pieces suggested the bolts were softer than the grade markings. Even the US Army has been plagued by this same problem, probably due to offshore material acquisition (low bid).

We were lucky that no one was hurt!

My message here is "do not believe that any bolt is as strong as its markings suggest, and for sure do not use minimum strength fasteners, because they are probably much less than the "standard" minimum. Example....you ever bought carriage bolts from Menards? Some I had couldn't even get the nut on without me rethreading them. Pure Crap!!

Paul in MN