Metal people, which bolts to use?

This is not a bashing post, I love my skids from rci but About 2 months into my steel skids and the access door bolts are going to shit. I want to replace them with something that won’t rust up and seize to it. I love the skids just want to try and keep that part nice. I’ll paint the next set of bolts to help but I know certain metals don’t play well together and looking for opinions on what I should swap them out with. THANKS! The skids did great getting me up top of the world in Moab though!

 

316 Stainless steel bolts. Done

 

Thanks guys! That’s what I wanted to know. Stainless steel it is!

 

Stainless steel with anti seize or grade 8 with a zinc yellow chromate finish.

 

Doesn't look like there's a scratch on them! I nailed a rock, or something, directly on the door of mine. I had to take the front skid off and pound it out in order to get it off without issues. The two fasteners were rusted out but came of without issue but I'll probably replace them with one of the above suggestions.

 

Grab stainless and get hex head bolts. You won't regret it.

 

One thing to think about is galvanic corrosion. Stainless steel reacts with aluminun, zinc coatings and even carbon steel so corrosion is still an issue.

In general, dissimilar metals are a dangerous combination. I would probably just go with a high carbon content grade 8 bolt & some high quality thread protector. Maybe a mil-spec grease.

http://www.ssina.com/corrosion/galvanic.html
"...if a window frame made of stainless steel and it is attached with carbon steel screws, the screws will probably corrode at an accelerated rate. If the area of the cathode (noble metal – stainless steel) is very small, and the anode (active metal – carbon steel) is very large, the current produced will be very low and the corrosion rate of the anode may not be affected. If the window frame is made of carbon steel and it is attached with stainless steel screws there will be very little, if any, galvanic corrosion."

 

The only issue with that is a plain bolt is going to rust faster from environment exposure than galvanic corrosion of stainless with non-stainless.

Throw stainless bolts with a protectant or anti seize between and it’s fine.

 

For the win.

I have the same skid (and rusted bolts) as OP and will be replacing with hex head SS bolts.

 

A little surface rust on the bolt head isn't the worry... The real worry is rust in the threads & the strength of the fastener compared to the torque required to remove the bolt.

Toyota doesn't use any stainless fasteners in their drivetrain or suspension as far as I can tell.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter...

 

They use hardware/coated hardware of all types. You are right, it doesn’t really matter.

 

Oh Top of the world left it’s mark lol, I just used a nice pic for the post lol.

 

There you go! My fronts have taken 90% of the beating.

 

Nice photograph dude. Damn that is beautiful, not the truck, the view.