DIN 960 and ISO 8765 describe the same type of part — a metric hexagon head bolt with a fine pitch thread and a partially threaded shank — but they are not the same document and not a safe automatic substitution. DIN 960 was withdrawn and replaced in 1992, and the current document is ISO 8765:2022, published in June 2022, with the current German edition DIN EN ISO 8765:2022-10. The dimensional tables are not identical: at M10×1.25, M12×1.5, M14×1.5 and M22×1.5 the width across flats changed, so a socket that fits one designation may not fit the other.
“DIN 960 / ISO 8765” on a stock list is a useful shorthand for the product family and a poor specification. The rest of this article sets out the standards relationship, what actually changed, and how to check a substitution before the order is placed. If you buy the part rather than the drawing, our DIN 960 hexagon head bolts with fine pitch thread page carries the range, materials and finishes we supply.
Is DIN 960 the same as ISO 8765?
No. ISO 8765 is the successor of DIN 960, not a copy of it, and the two standards should not be presented as identical documents.
The chain is well documented. DIN 960:1990-01, the hexagon head bolt with metric fine pitch thread and a partially threaded shank, was withdrawn and replaced by DIN EN 28765:1992, the German version of EN 28765:1991 and ISO 8765:1988. That in turn was superseded by the DIN EN ISO 8765 series, and the current edition is DIN EN ISO 8765:2022-10. ISO itself published ISO 8765:2022 in June 2022 as edition 4, replacing ISO 8765:2011, which is now recorded as withdrawn. The intervening editions — 1988, 1999 and 2011 — are all withdrawn as well.
What the two documents still share is the product. Both describe a metric hexagon head bolt with a fine pitch thread and a partially threaded shank, and both define the shape, the tolerances and the other product requirements that go with that part. Neither is a strength specification, and neither is only a dimension table either: the product standard states the requirements, while the mechanical property classes and stainless steel grades are determined by the standards it references, principally ISO 898-1 and ISO 3506-1. That is why the two names travel together in trade — and why the differences that do exist are easy to miss. The same pattern shows up across the hex bolt family; the coarse-thread version is set out in our comparison of DIN 931 and ISO 4014, where the same four diameters move.
What each document covers today
ISO 8765:2022 specifies hexagon head bolts in steel and stainless steel with metric fine pitch threads from M8×1 to M64×4, in product grades A and B. Where other requirements apply, it points to ISO 898-1 for steel property classes and ISO 3506-1 for stainless steel grades, and to ISO 888 or ISO 4753 for dimensional options. Its predecessor, ISO 8765:2011, covered nominal thread diameters from 8 mm to 64 mm and defined grade A as applying to threads from M8 to M24 with lengths up to 10d or 150 mm, whichever is shorter, and grade B above that.
DIN 960:1990 was the German national standard for the same product and was tabulated from M8 upwards in a fine pitch series that included M8×1, M10×1 and M10×1.25, M12×1.5 and M12×1.25, M14×1.5, M16×1.5, M18×1.5, M20×1.5 and M20×2, M22×1.5 and M22×2, M24×2 and coarser fine pitches up the diameter range. As a withdrawn document it has no current status and cannot be used as the governing specification for a new order.
| Point of comparison | DIN 960 (1990-01) | ISO 8765:2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Hexagon head bolt, fine pitch thread, partially threaded shank | Hexagon head bolt, fine pitch thread, partially threaded shank |
| Status | Withdrawn. Replaced by DIN EN 28765:1992 (ISO 8765:1988) | Current international standard. Current German edition DIN EN ISO 8765:2022-10 |
| Thread coverage | Fine pitch series tabulated from M8, including M10×1 and M10×1.25 | Metric fine pitch threads M8×1 to M64×4 |
| Materials named in scope | Not stated in the dimensional table | Steel and stainless steel |
| Property class | DIN 960 is a dimensional designation: it does not establish the property class of the bolt, and mechanical requirements had to be called up separately (for example the property classes of ISO 898-1) | ISO 8765:2022 states requirements for the applicable property classes and stainless steel grades, with the mechanical properties to be taken from ISO 898-1 or ISO 3506-1 |
| Width across flats at M10×1.25 / M12×1.5 / M14×1.5 / M22×1.5 | 17 / 19 / 22 / 32 mm | 16 / 18 / 21 / 34 mm |
| Head height at those sizes | 6.4 / 7.5 / 8.8 / 14 mm | 6.4 / 7.5 / 8.8 / 14 mm |
The dimensional difference that matters: width across flats
The two tables agree on the thread, the thread length, the shank diameter and the head height across most of the range. They differ in head width at four diameters. The withdrawn DIN 960 table gives s = 17 mm at M10, 19 mm at M12, 22 mm at M14 and 32 mm at M22; the current designation table for DIN EN ISO 8765:2022 gives s = 16 mm, 18 mm, 21 mm and 34 mm at the same diameters.
| Thread size | DIN 960 across flats, s (mm) | ISO 8765:2022 across flats, s (mm) | DIN 960 across corners, e min, grade A (mm) | ISO 8765:2022 across corners, e min, grade A (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M8×1 | 13 | 13 | 14.38 | 14.38 |
| M10×1.25 | 17 | 16 | 18.90 | 17.77 |
| M12×1.5 | 19 | 18 | 21.10 | 20.03 |
| M14×1.5 | 22 | 21 | 24.49 | 23.36 |
| M16×1.5 | 24 | 24 | 26.75 | 26.75 |
| M20×1.5 / M20×2 | 30 | 30 | 33.53 | 33.53 |
| M22×1.5 | 32 | 34 | 35.72 | 37.72 |
| M24×2 | 36 | 36 | 39.98 | 39.98 |
Three points follow from that table.
- The change is not uniform. The current head is 1 mm smaller across flats at M10, M12 and M14, and 2 mm larger at M22. “The ISO head is smaller” is a rule that fails at one of the four sizes.
- Across corners moves with across flats. The circle the head sweeps changes by roughly 1.1 mm at M10 and just over 2 mm at M22, so the space a head needs in a recess, a counterbore or next to an adjacent part changes too.
- Tooling is affected. A 17 mm socket will not fit a current ISO 8765 M10×1.25 head, and a 16 mm socket will not go onto the withdrawn DIN 960 M10 head at all. Site tool kits and assembly instructions have to carry both sizes at these four diameters.
The current values bring the fine pitch bolts into line with the coarse pitch ISO 4014 and ISO 4017 hexagon head series at the same nominal diameters — the same four sizes sit at 16, 18, 21 and 34 mm in the coarse-thread tables.
Why suppliers still list “DIN 960 / ISO 8765”
Because the DIN designation is a commercial name, not a governing document. It is short, it is the name a large part of the market still uses, and it returns the right product family in a catalogue or on a stock list. Distributor data sheets routinely label the item “DIN 960 — similar to ISO 8765”, using similar rather than identical. Others sell the same bolt under the ISO 8765 name while quoting the older head width in the dimension data, which is exactly the trap this article is about.
There is also a scope point that catches buyers out. DIN 960 is specific to fine pitch: it is the historical standard for partially threaded hexagon head bolts with metric fine pitch thread, and it is not a coarse pitch standard. The partially threaded coarse pitch hexagon head bolt is DIN 931 in the German framework, with ISO 4014 as its current international counterpart — a different product, covered by a different standard. In practice the same catalogue list can carry both, so a designation alone is not enough: check that the thread pitch and the head width match the drawing. M10 × 1.5 with a 16 mm head is the coarse pitch bolt, identified as DIN 931 / ISO 4014; the historical DIN 960 fine pitch bolt is M10 × 1.25 with a 17 mm head. The diameter alone does not identify the part.
What the standards do not cover
Those characteristics are not settled by the dimensional table alone. The product standard and the material, mechanical property and surface condition standards it references together determine them, so they still have to be stated separately on the enquiry and on the order:
- Property class or stainless steel grade — 8.8, 10.9 or 12.9 under ISO 898-1 for steel, or a full stainless designation such as A2-70 or A4-80 under ISO 3506-1. The material group alone does not express the class.
- Material — carbon steel, alloy steel or stainless, including any low temperature or impact testing requirement.
- Coating — plain, zinc plated, hot dip galvanised or zinc flake. Coating thickness affects thread fit, and hot dip galvanised nuts are tapped oversize to allow for it.
- Thread tolerance — 6g is the normal default for the external thread; state it if the joint requires something else.
- Thread length — where the position of the plain shank is functional rather than incidental. The standard thread length bands apply, but short lengths can be threaded closer to the head.
Head markings do not settle the question either. What is marked on the head is the property class and the producer’s identification, not the dimensional standard, so a bolt in a bin cannot be identified as DIN 960 or ISO 8765 from its marking. At the four affected diameters, the width across flats is the quickest check, and after 2022 it is the check that separates a current drawing from a legacy one.
How to verify a DIN 960 to ISO 8765 substitution
A drawing that cites DIN 960 cites a withdrawn standard and usually does not name an edition. Working from it takes six steps.
- Resolve the designation. DIN 960 was historically replaced through the ISO 8765 standard series, with DIN EN ISO 8765 as the current German edition, but this is not an automatic dimensional substitution. Verify the applicable edition, pitch and critical dimensions before replacing the legacy designation. If the bolt on the drawing is fully threaded, the equivalent is ISO 8676, not ISO 8765.
- Check the size against the four. If it is M10, M12, M14 or M22, treat the head width as open until someone states it in millimetres.
- Check the pitch on the drawing. A legacy call-out such as M10×1 is a fine pitch that the current edition no longer treats as preferred. Confirm which pitch will actually be produced.
- Check the head against the assembly. Socket access, recess or counterbore clearance, adjacent components, and the bearing face where the head seats on the clamped part.
- Confirm what the dimensional standard does not cover — property class or stainless grade, material, coating and thread tolerance.
- Write the requirement in full and keep the record. For example
ISO 8765:2022 — M12 × 1.5 × 80 — 8.8 — zinc plated. Where the drawing has to keep the legacy 19 mm head width, that dimension comes from the withdrawn DIN 960:1990-01 rather than from ISO 8765:2022, which specifies 18 mm across flats at M12 × 1.5; cite the legacy standard for it, for exampleDIN 960:1990-01 — M12 × 1.5 × 80 — 8.8 — zinc plated, and do not record it as an ISO 8765 part.
Step 2 decides most cases, and step 6 is the one that gets skipped. A substitution recorded on the drawing and the purchase order does not have to be re-argued at the next shutdown; one that lives in an email thread does.
The short answer
DIN 960 is the withdrawn German standard for hexagon head bolts with metric fine pitch thread and a partially threaded shank. ISO 8765 is its current international successor, with the current German edition DIN EN ISO 8765:2022-10. For most of the diameter range the two tables agree on thread, thread length, shank and head height, so the designations describe the same part. They are not interchangeable by default, and at M10, M12, M14 and M22 the head width changed — 1 mm smaller in the current standard at the first three sizes, 2 mm larger at M22 — so sockets, clearances and pockets have to be checked there. Property class, material and coating have to be established with ISO 8765 and the standards it references, not assumed from the designation, and they should be stated on the order.
ChinaBolts supplies fine pitch hexagon head bolts to the DIN 960 drawing and to ISO 8765, in carbon, alloy and stainless steel, across the standard property classes and finishes, as part of our wider metric hex bolt range. Send the size, the standard, the head width where it matters, the property class and the finish — request a quote — and we will confirm the pitch and the width across flats against the standard before the order is placed.
