Discussion Forums

Paul Leverman

It looks as if the holes had some contaminant in them. The threads are still intact, but you can see how the apex has been rounded off. As Nathan said, you should find a hand tap and t-handle and clean up the threads in the hole first. If you try to wind in the new bolts, the same thing will happen again. Be very careful about your alignment when using the tap, not difficult to do, but can sometimes be tricky to get it started. The issue being where the threads of the hole are damaged. A taper tap is your best bet for ease of operation and alignment, and please please please don't use a wrench on the tap. Use only a t-handle. This will assist in helping to keep the tap square to the hole and give you a much better feel for what is happening.