Replacing carriage bolts on CCV high top

lcavalletti

Observer
I thought I would post this up since i haven't seen anything about this in the forums. Last trip to Mammoth a few weeks ago, after popping the top I was shocked to see the threaded bolt backed out of the support brace on my rear drivers side corner. A few more pop ups and it would have come out! With a a few tools I was able to get the bolt back in and tighten the nut down. At that time I realized that every time I am popping the top the nut was slowly being loosened off the bolt. These are the bolts installed by CCV which are threaded from end to end. At the last van meetup someone had mentioned to me that these threaded bolts over time can disfigure the hole in the steel brace and cause failure of the supporting arms. Or in my case catch on the steel hole and back the nut off and slowly back out of the brace. So I took the initiative to change them all out to a stronger sleeved barrel bolt with a threaded end for a lock nut and washer. All my bolts are now changed out and i have piece of mind. Anyone care to share what CCV are using now for the support bolts, they should change them to what i used as it is clearly stronger with no chance of backing out. Maybe they have already?
IMG_2721.JPGIMG_2724.JPG
 

letgonow

New member
Your replacement shoulder bolt should provide a much better hinge bearing surface than the original bolt. However... in both instances it appears there is not enough bolt length to fully engage the nylock nut. And, with the shoulder bolt the nut likely bottoms out prior to full engagement with the nylock portion. Might want to use the appropriate Loctite for additional peace of mind.

Just my $.02
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,539
Messages
2,875,661
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top