AKlowriderZ71

iTrader: (22)

The ongoing debate is, that the ARP hardware increases the clamping force. That additional clamping force is said to "distort" the bearing journal.

When rods are resized, or when mains are align-bored, the caps are torqued in place before the machining. If the machining was done with stock fasteners originally, then ARP hardware is installed later on, your machined journals may no longer be true. This can make some ugly things happen inside your engine.

Hope that made sense, sometimes I have a hard time explaining things.

Mangled03gmc

iTrader: (95)

TRU TALK rite thur.

2doorfury

iTrader: (12)

makes complete sense. so is it worth using them then? stay away from arp rod bolts if you dont plan on align boring?

Slammed96

iTrader: (5)

So just to clarify, how do ARP bolts somehow have greater clamping force? I always thought that ARP bolts were simply stronger and less prone to stretching under high load.

smokeshow

iTrader: (16)

ARPs are less prone to stretching under any load, not just high load. That includes initial loading of the bolt which occurs when it is torqued. Its a measure of bolt strain vs applied stress. ARP bolts will undergo less strain than OE rod bolts given the same torque value, so they clamp harder.

Here is a good first-hand account of what happens when ARP bolts are swapped in without verifying rod end dimensions:

Rod Bolt Replacement Lesson...if you're thinking about doing it come in.... - LS1TECH

Slammed96

iTrader: (5)

That clears it up quite nicely. Thanks!

TXsilverado

iTrader: (19)

search the forums and report back how many stock rod bolt failures you find. i will keep the OEM rod bolts in place unless it was a fresh engine build. my LS1 held for about 160,000 miles, a couple hundred lbs of nitrous and spinning to 7000 rpm daily and 7500 rpm a few times. when it blew up the rod shattered into 100 pieces but the oem rod bolts were perfectly fine.

2doorfury

iTrader: (12)

very interesting. ill probably just stick with the stock ones then. seems like theyll be fine.

AKlowriderZ71

iTrader: (22)

Everything that I've built is running the stockers in the shortblock.

low02silverado

so you can reuse rod and main bolts, been looking around to give me a 100% response