Skip to content

Fastener Head Markings Decoded

SAE J429 Grade 5The lines on the head of a bolt indicate its grade. SAE J429 (Society of Automotive Engineers) bolts have radial lines, whereas ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) uses a combination of letters and numbers to indicate the grade. Three radial lines will indicate an SAE grade 5 fastener, while six radial lines will indicate an SAE grade 8 fastener. These are the most common grades, but there are others. Our Fastener Identification Markings Chart has a complete list of bolt grades with accompanying head markings.

103 thoughts on “Fastener Head Markings Decoded”

    1. @John- I am sorry, but that does not immediately ring a bell. If you’d like to send in a photo, perhaps we can decode it for you.

  1. I have a bolt top of head says -FNL
    Center of head Has 9 dashes in the center
    Bottom of the Bolt says G9

    Wondering about the grade of this bolt

    1. @Jason- FNL is likely the bolt manufacturer, Fastenal. The G9 and nine dashes signify grade 9, which is a high strength grade slightly stronger than SAE grade 8. Grade 9 is a grade that was created to be a high strength alternative to SAE grade 8, but is not covered specifically by SAE J429 nor any other standards organization.

  2. I have a very old A286 fastener spec that refers to marking codes such as H19 and H28 on the head. We don’t know what that means. Anybody?

  3. have 1969 vet bolts holding rear spring have a w8 or wb on head corvette supplier sells grade 5 bolt as replacement are these strong enough

    1. @Paul – I am not familiar with a ‘W8’ or ‘WB’ marking on the head of a bolt, so I am not certain what grade they might be. Sorry we cannot help.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *