You would be amazed at the selection of nuts and bolts at your local Ace Hardware store.

Including stainless.

 

Amen, ACE is the PLACE for its hardware selections, not a thing I can't find!

R'

 

Favorite combination is stainless steel and those lock nuts with the nylon inserts that are tons better than lock washers.

 

Yeah yeah...I'm funny that way. I like consistency. But the bigger issue is the lack of outdoor rated hardware which I think is completely unacceptable on a machine designed to be in very wet, sloppy conditions. You won't find a single bolt on the machine from the factory that doesn't have some sort of anti-corrosion coating on it....so why go cheap on the accessories. I'd expect that from an after-market manufacturer..but the OEM???

 

Crap gets cheaper by the minute it seems....So much junk out there. Wife brought home this folding chair for the kids to sit at this art table she built for them....I could lift my foot, and slam it down and smash the POS into pieces, but I didn't

I second the send-the-junk-back post.

 

I put a rear rack extender on an XP recently and the two self tapping hex screws were so crappy that I knocked the corners off one using a nut driver. Not something powered, not a ratchet but a screwdriver with a socket on the end. I wasn't even turning it that hard. Just cheap pot metal fasteners. Rest of the machine was great though and the rack extender looks and functions great.