reusing idler arm bolt?

[tim eh?]

I'm replacing the tie rods and idler arm. Everything's off and I have all new parts to go in except the idler arm bolt which looks like this after soaking overnight.



It's not completely stripped . Having trouble finding a replacement, I found a self-locking nut that would work (on the left there), but I'm not sure if I should use it. What do I do? I won't be able to find a proper one until tuesday at the earliest!



This was the balljoint that was making all the noise I think. It was a megabitch to get off. The rest was pretty easy.



***-

A word of caution; when removing the tie rod ends, ball joints etc. loosen the nut all the way first then thread it back on a couple of turns to retain the parts when things succumb to brute force. This way you won't have parts flying about.
Also DON'T put the locking nuts back on too far, into the prevailing torque castellated or nylock area or the stud will spin with nut once loose from the steering knuckle. Guess how I learned this?

All of this was really helpful Ross - I actually did put one nut back on a bit too far and it spun like you said but I managed to get it off with skinny vice grips.

[Ross]

The bolt looks fine to me. Threads look okay and the bolt doesn't appear stretched.
I see no reason not to reuse.

[632 Regal]

Crescent wrench?

[tim eh?]

The bolt looks fine to me. Threads look okay and the bolt doesn't appear stretched.
I see no reason not to reuse.

Thanks. I used the old bolt with the new nut, and now my mind is at ease.

Crescent wrench?

wasn't me! I could only get to it with a deep socket (which I happen to have in 17mm for my custom tire iron/breaker bar. seriously, up here in the winter people could DIE if they got stuck with only the stock tire iron wtf??? the 'widowmaker' cracks me up too )

It was on really tight I'm guessing 50% is caused by some eh-hole tightening it and the other 50% caused by foul language.