Locking Bolt for Club Car DS Accelerator Arm

[SoCalCartGuy]

New guy here, with first post, so please forgive me if I don't get the terminology exactly correct.

I need some help. I have a 1989 Club Car DS. A couple of weeks ago, I was driving it and the accelerator pedal got wobbly, and then the cart stopped. I looked under the cart, and saw that the "arm" of the accelerator pedal had come off a D-shaped pivot shaft. I was able to push the arm back on to the shaft, and got back to the barn.

Today I was able to raise the cart and get underneath to take a look at the accelerator pedal arm and the D-shaped rod. It appears there's supposed to be a bolt that goes through the arm to lock it to the D-shaped rod, and that bolt was missing (I could see the markings of a star lock washer on the outside of the arm). The Club Car DS service manual and parts list seems to show that the bolt is a 5/16"-18, which to my recollection is a common coarse thread bolt. So, I went to the Club Car department at Home Depot () and bought a coarse thread 5/16" bolt, and just to be on the safe side, I also bought a fine thread 5/16" bolt. Back under the Club Car I went. Neither bolt fit. Both were too big, but a 1/4"-20 bolt I tried was too small.

I'm stumped. Can anyone give me some guidance as to the correct bolt to lock that accelerator arm to the D-shaped pivot shaft?

Thanks everyone!

[SoCalCartGuy]

Hre's how the story ends.

I could not get the pedal out of the cart, so I was working underneath it, on my back (the cart's front wheels were up on ramps). I tried using a 5/16" tap to chase the threads, but there was not enough room to maneuver the tap wrench. So I tried the 5/16-18 bolt again. I got it lined up and caught a thread, so I sprayed it with lubricant and slowly started to tighten it. The bolt was steel, and the body of the pedal arm was aluminum, so I was hoping that I could chase the threads with the bolt. Slowly I'd turn the bolt about a quarter-turn, and then I would back it out, clean the threads, and spray everything again with lubricant. It took about 20 minutes of doing this carefully and slowly, but finally the bolt went all the way in. I removed it one last time, cleaned the hole and the bolt with solvent, but some blue Loctite on the bolt, and tightened it up. It went in snugly, and the pedal rod now does not move off the pivot shaft. I think between the tight threads and the blue Loctite, that bolt will hopefully be in place for the remainder of the cart's life!