I read in another thread that the end bolts that come with the Courtesy FSTB are of low quality and that I should pick up better ones at Pep Boys of grade 5 or above steel. My question is this, I bought some prepackaged stainless steel bolts with the brand name Stainless-Tite! They look better than the bolts that came with the bar, but they don't say what grade steel they are. How do I know if they are grade 5 or above? Will these work? I just want to make sure that these don't break on me due to them being a low grade or something. I already checked the manufacturer's website and all it says is that they are of series UNC/USS, whatever that means. If anyone can fill me in here, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

 

and i have had no issues with them breaking or anything like that. Like everyone else i was trying to take the bar off for some cleaning and both end bolts snapped off so I went to pep boys and bought the stainless-tite brand. So far so good!

 

I tried finding bolts for both my RSB and FSTB (and yes, my FSTB bolts broken when I tried removing them). I had the hardest time finding these anywhere. What I did find was that SS bolts can use either a number or some manufacturers put hash marks on the end to indicate the strength or they don't put any at all.

I finally got bolts from OSH that I used. So far so good, although I have not tried to remove them so who knows. I realize this isn't much help, I'm just trying to give you an idea that there isn't much info out there.

 

Thanks for the info. I feel much better knowing that someone else has them and they work well.

 

BOLT Markings:
http://www.unified-eng.com/scitech/bolt/boltmarks.html

 

The problem isn't so much one of tensile strength but that the threads bind so when you try to remove the bolts they are twisted apart (in addition to the chrome plating undoubtedly making them brittle). Stainless is not included in the grading but is really very strong and very unlikely to bind.