Originally Posted by Guitar Jones
You are way over thinking this. However if a vehicle had been returned to me in that condition I would be back in the service drive having a conversation with the service manager. They should fix it at no charge.


Me, over thinking something?
Naw, never!
No one from “Happy Holler” thinks too much, or too little.
Guitar, it is clear ya gotta move from that West by God Virginia Holler
to the totally superior land west of the Big Sandy River.

Getting up at 4 AM and working until 9 AM.
Then from 9 PM until 11 PM, or when I realize brain fog could get me hurt working alone under a car.
The rest of the time I am a Geriatric nurse to a 91 year stroke victim.

I did find that the right size Torx bit will back out a Helicoil without damaging it, allowing to tap a bit deeper.
The german company with Youtube videos showing their Helicoil remover and tang-less powered inserter is interesting.

I now have all holes good, after test torquing to 14 ft-lbs.
I would have saved time and cuss words by just Helicoiling every hole to begin with,
which I eventually did after seeing aluminum threads come back out of “good holes” after test torquing.

I am off the opinion that Chrysler designed this to fail by stripping out aluminum threads rather than snapping off steel bolts.
Chrysler considered a repair with Helicoils acceptably cheap.

In Machine Design classes students are taught:
Design for the cheapest, easiest & quickest to replace part to break first,
for example make the nut weaker and of a material that will not damage the stronger, harder bolt or stud,
and design in thread engagement lengths so this will happen.
( Think ARP cylinder head stud kits)

In mining we have big precisely made heavy steel doors with special air gaps on all electrical boxes.
These are held on with multiple allen head cap screws of Grade 8 that will strip the steel threaded hole in the electrical box body if miss threaded.
It is against USA law to have even a single cap screw or threaded hole bad.
I could cause a mine explosion... and has in the past.

When I visited coal mines in South Africa
I noticed that they had replaced the allen headed cap screws with hardened steel studs with brass nuts, like ARP cyl head stud kits.
I asked why and was told:
cheaper and quicker to replace a brass nut than repair a threaded hole, and just as explosion safe.

For cost and factory reasons
Chrysler would never replace the M8 1.25 steel bolts with only 5.5 mm of thread engagement in soft aluminum,
with say...
steel studs in much longer aluminum threaded holes and soft brass lock nuts,
but maybe students should read about this as an alternative.