Bolts, Bushings and other questions

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by 60-66

Plating on the bolts and nuts are going to be more, placement specific and year specific. Chassis bolts are either bare steal=natural or like a black phosphate. Some of the nuts are as well but some will be silver cad. Heres something to consider though. On an assembly line truck , the chassis was painted again covering up that plating with black paint. This was not an exact process so some plating was not covered with paint but black paint can be found on exhaust systems etc. Again sort of a plant thing. I know Janesville did this.

Body bolts , most are silver cadmium plated. Hood related hinges, latches and brackets are black/gray phosphate for 64-66s BUT some of the hood striker plates can be painted. The latch can be a combination of black and phosphate plated. Some of this is where it becomes more plant specific and nut bolt suppliers .

Start looking at the markings on the heads of like the body bolts. They should match . If the trucks has had any panel removed or replaced this normally gets changed.

I've had no issues with bolt fatigue but I'm not saying it wont happen. If this is a restoration and you want original bolts , a trip to the local junk yard or a parts truck really comes in handy, but again , head markings make the difference , then the placement of the bolts as theres several different styles of bolts on every truck for specific parts.

Also , common zink plating like you see on todays bolts is not what they used in 1966 but is an easier plating to get and still looks good. If you can find a good plater they can double dip them and they will last longer. Oiling the bolts helps them last longer on the plating or clear coating them.

All in all , a careful cleaning will tell you what it was plated with . Clean the bolt , dip it in acid , if it fizzes it was plated. If not , bare steel. Color is either bare, phosphate or cad.

Thanks for the info Jon. Mainly I am working on the front suspension now....I have the cradle and both sets of A arms off and almost ready for epoxy. I do have to replace one cradle bolt because I had to cut the old one off. The remaining front suspension bolts I ran a thread chaser on both the bolts and nuts and they work fine without any binding.

I checked all the cradle bolts and they have the same head markings on them.

I am restoring my truck as best I can with a few modern touches...front discs and a 700R4 tranny, adding carpet, power steering and an Ash wood bed. The truck was originally a 3 speed but I changed to and automatic and got a 66 Auto column because it looks right.....My motor will still have the YS in front of the head but Im not trying to fool anyone with what Im doing.

I have looked at your trucks as much as I could to see the correct colors that things should be....Mike Remley also sent me some pictures for reference as well to help out.

My main concern on the coating of the bolts is for the front sheet metal, front fenders etc.....I plan on painting my truck apart so that's the reason for wanting to know about the bolt plating.

lastly my truck was built in Atlanta.