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Okay, I was able to get the exact U-bolts I needed from Fastenal--sized for 3/4" conduit. I had them order me one each of a 10x80mm and 10x55mm for the upper front engine mounts. The store manager wasn't too happy yesterday when I stopped in to pick them up and he thought I should take the entire package of 10 of the 80mm bolts and 100 of the 55mm. His salesman had placed the order for me last week and I was under the impression that I was getting a single quantity of each. Oh well, I got my two bolts.

So last night I decide to put the guards on and find out that the 17mm head won't fit in the case recess that is 14mm. Oops!

So, I have a choice, I can either grind down the heads to fit (not ideal, but I can spray them with galvanizing paint) , or try to find the right diameter and length of bolts, but with a 14mm head. I'm guessing the latter will be a needle in a haystack style search and if I botch the bolts too badly by grinding them, I know of a Fastenal store that has more!

The saga continues...

- Nate >>

Tuesday night I rode out to the farm with the bolts and a can of galvanizing spray. I used the angle-head grinder to get the heads down to 14mm and recoated them. Last night I put the guards on and they fitted perfectly. They cleaned up nicely with Never-Dull and don't look too bad.

Hopefully, I'll never have to use them.

- Nate >>

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Left:

Nate,

I had the same problem when I mounted mine. I got around it by using regular old American bolts. I used the closest size that was a bit smaller, and the heads fit perfectly. They were fractions of a millimeter smaller in diameter, and I'm not worried about it.

Kent

Sometimes we farmers just have to do things the hard way!

The fact is that when I bought the bolts from Fastenal, I had no idea the heads were required to be smaller. Since they were useless for anything else, I just made them work.

- Nate >>