Thanks, David.  I will look into this pronto, and will almost certainly retap the bore and get new bolts.  I am sure the bolts are not stretched, but I don't know how I would be able to tell, except that they did turn in (though requiring inordinate force, and only after lubrication).  So, your advice is to retap and get new bolts, right?  I thought I had solved the problem with the lubricant, but I see now that by the high torque I applied, there may be a safety issue.  Thanks again, David

---- David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> Dear Dave,
>
> At 08:52 PM 6/13/2010, mcneely4@cox.net wrote:
> > > The thread is a 7/16-20. You can get a replacement bolt at any hardware
>
> Hello Lucas; he's talking about the bolt attaching the female-end
> strap under the seat, not the ones you supply.
>
> >Lucas, thanks again for your response.  Following the advice of
> >David Beierl, who is a participant in the vanagon.com mailing list,
> >I cleaned the bolt and bore threads with brake cleaner, and put
> >antisieze lubricant on the threads.
>
> Yes.
>
> >   I then screwed the bolts in, tightened them up, and snugged them
> > down on the fittings.  The tightening did require more force than
> > the 35-45 ft lbs your instructions recommend (I discontinued using
> > my cheap torque wrench for fear of breaking it, but it would not
> > turn the screws in at 60 ft. lbs, so I went to a regular socket wrench.
>
> This part I definitely didn't advise; if it seemed that I did I
> apologize.  Those bolts as I said before are only supposed to be
> torqued to about 30 lb-ft, which means they must thread in much more
> easily than that until they get to the "snugged and ready to tighten"
> point.  If they won't do this then there is something wrong with the
> machine screw or the hole it threads into or both.  As I also said, a
> likely reason with a large fine-thread fastener is something carried
> back up into the hole as the fastener is withdrawn.  But whether or
> not that's the problem, it needs to be fixed, not overpowered.
>
> Yours,
> David
>

--
David McNeely