[snakebite]

Danger! - steering arm bolts – Jaguar Running Gear

I had cause to replace my steering arm, so armed with new bolts from John Gordon Jaguar Spares I started……….

I nipped the long bolt up with a socket prior to using my torque wrench………..the bloody head snapped off!

On close examination of the pictures attached you can see:

• The cross drillings for the retaining wire are not on the same plane with the lower hole dangerously close to bottom of the head, therefore seriously weakening it. As you can see from the original bolt, both holes are on the same plane in the middle of the head.

• The new bolt does not have a hardness value stamped on it unlike the original (8..

I rang John Gordons to get their view on the situation – they said that they have not heard of a bolt head snapping before and that Jaguar discontinued that bolt.

I rang our local Jag specialist – they said they had one bolt in stock but would order more - and, yes, they have a hardness value (8. with the retaining wire holes on the same plane.

The other 2 bolts are fine as they are supplied with the hardness value stamped on them.

May I strongly suggest that everybody with Jag running gear check the steering arm bolts for the hardness value before a catastrophic accident occurs!