The front bolts that go into the crossmember above the stock splash guard?
Going too tight could damage the splash guard, even with the metal insert. I wonder if part of the issue is the span between the front and rear mounting points being in a position to change lengths slightly with flexing...
I personally like nickel based anti-seize between stainless parts, but it is more difficult to find as well as more expensive.
Realistically this is neither a high enough torque or heat environment that the copper wouldn’t work well enough.
The "problem" with higher grades of stainless is they are more prone to the galling issue. This is why they often aren't used as fasteners, more than it just being a more expensive base material.
Just be sure you use a good anti-seize.
Save time is debatable. With a battery impact the stock skids come out and go in very, very quickly, and give far better access to the oil drain and filter than the small hatches on aftermarket skids.
The guy has made a pretty successful business out of cutting up and fabricating metal parts, then has someone posting videos suggesting his product won’t work to prevent someone cutting a metal part off a truck.
Without any indication they contacted Bud to see whether these things were tested.
I’ve done *lots* of cuts with a reciprocating saw using all manners of blades cutting all kinds of materials.
Using a long blade without the ability to put the depth guide against the work is the second quickest way to bend that blade.. the end of the blade hitting something solid being the...
With the caveat I mentioned, that I haven’t seen this all in person yet, the rear cut is pointless if the front cuts can’t be completed, and I believe those cuts would be more difficult than they seem.
Making a complete cut through stainless with such a long blade is often more difficult than it seems… but I agree that is more room than I’d like, with the caveat that I’d need to see it up close to determine if I could actually get the cats out. (I have plenty of experience cutting metal)
On...
Stainless on stainless is really bad about galling unless very expensive coatings are applied, and those are specific to the thermal/chemical environment. Recommending anti-seize is the easy and widely understood way to handle things.
Thread locker has some anti-seize qualities for the...
Agreed. Very hot. More than enough to loosen up that thread locker.
But the hottest parts of the cats have heat shields and the places those nuts go won’t see anywhere near the temps needed to loosen it.
I’m just not sure if once the parts are in place we can get access to the nut with a...
Another security option, depending on access, would be high strength thread locker. If you can get in there with a propane or map torch to heat up the nut you can loosen it, otherwise you will probably break the bolt before the nut moves.
Vast majority of these bad guys aren't carrying any tools other than what they need to cut off a cat, usually a battery sawzall and maybe a jack if they are targeting smaller cars.