woj64

I recently removed the seats and carpet from my truck thanks to a window leak (off topic any suggestions for resealing the rear window) the service manual says that I should NOT reuse the bolts holding the seats in or the nuts used to hold the front seat assembly together (they don't seem worried about the little studs pressed into the framework), does anyone know why. You can reuse the nuts and bolts for the rear seat, all the seat belt attachments (which I would think would be the most critical component) just nut the rather large bolts in front It doesn't make sense to me, a local rather seasoned professional mechanic looked at me like I was nuts when I told him what the manual said and told me if the wreck is bad enough to break those bolts it probably wouldn't matter...lol. Any thoughts? And lastly where do I find them, they aren't an easy part to track down.

Jeff in TD

Maybe interference fit threads?

I dunno. I saw that in the manual too.

torquefan

Often, a new bolt such as a seat bolt will come from the factory with a patch of thread locking compound on the threads. That can be the reason for it to be classed as a single use bolt. Not saying that is definitely the case here, but I was told that in the past, probably in a Dodge training class.

woj64

Talking with some others including a dealer parts guy and former military helicopter mechanic, the consensus is that is they are made with some feature that makes the "locking" and it is most likely not a structural thing. The small nuts for the center seat/console at best are made out of round to make them locking and yes there appears to be some type of coating on the main bolts that probably acts as a loctite type of thread locker. At $6 and $4 (4 each) dollars a piece for the main bolts and God knows what for 6 little nuts I'm thinking a good coating of the red locktite will be safe and a whole lot cheaper, plus I think I'd notice them getting loose and could just wrench them down or replace them at that point, if it was ever needed.