Why does ford use round headed bolts...

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: expat
Originally Posted By: andyd
Fords are engineered to be assembled and sold.If something is easy to work on, it is accidental.


I do believe you might be right.


This is the case with most vehicles.


Not with Toyota and Honda

The oil filter on 3.4L Tacos and 4Runners would beg to differ.

I don't know of any normal production car built since the 1970s or so that's totally straightforward to work on from bumper to bumper.

 

[Warstud]

How about GM's liquid nylon injected U-Joints. Those are always fun to get off.

 

[The_Eric]

Never had an issue with them. At least nothing a torch couldn't resolve.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: HangFire
Most auto manufacturers are indifferent to service personnel and second owners. Ford is the only company I know of that actively hates them.


Agree; my 1985 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was often a real pain to work on- and then there was the clever two inch cable in the clutch linkage that would snap at regular intervals...

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: andyd
Wrenching on old BMWs spoiled me. Working on the Rat taught me that Fords are engineered to be assembled and sold.If something is easy to work on, it is accidental.
Not trying to rain on a parade but my son and I are seeing some real "clever" parts placement on the 633CSI he bought as a restoration project. Dieter and the boys must have been out drinking that day.

 

[asand1]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
to answer my own question, the old bolts did have square shanks like "stove bolts" and when the thing was new the adjuster sleeves also were squared off to keep them from spinning.

This of course all blew all to heck over twenty years. Someone must have eaten a nice steak saving $.00002 per part by not machining a hex on top.


This was my suspicion. If not for rust and age, you would only need one wrench, rather than two. Actually a good idea IMO.

 

[artificialist]

I have seen some that resemble a wheel stud, unfortunately, the serrations aren't always deep enough to keep the bolt from spinning.

Most modern cars are annoying to work on. People are amazed by how many different pliers I have in my toolbox. I tell them "As long as auto markers find awkward ways to reach parts, I need different pliers to reach them."

Honda and Ford aren't the only ones guilty of annoying ways to build cars. German car makers like using hex bolts, Torx fasteners, Inverted Torx fasteners, and triple square fasteners. It would be nice if they stuck with one or two types of fasteners. I was lucky to get a good deal on used Snap-on triple square bits, otherwise I'd have to turn away some very good customers.

 

[camrydriver111]

Torx and triple square gotta be there intentionally to prevent people from working on the car and take it to the dealer instead.