Nord-Lock Washers

N814P · #1 06-15-2009, 11:57 AM

I met with the local EAA Tech Counselor on Friday and he pointed me to this video about nord-lock (wedge) washers. Have any of you had experience with these? If I were to use them, I would still follow Van's guidelines on torque, nut types and safety wire when needed. This would just be an added safety measure (along with added cost and slightly added weight)

video: http://www.nord-lock.com/video/nl_us.wmv

They run around $0.50 per pair. I found them for sale here:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#nord-lock-washers/=2bvo5p

Any thoughts?

Greg Arehart · #2 06-15-2009, 12:53 PM

This looks like a great idea! I may retrofit a few of these onto some areas of my 9A at annual time.

greg

zilik · #3 06-15-2009, 06:07 PM

These kewl washers come with the matco axle for us nose draggers. They look pretty neat but I really don't know how much better than other styles they are.

N814P · #4 06-15-2009, 06:15 PM

Even with proper torquing, safety wiring, etc. do bolts often come loose? Those tails and wings are only held on by a handful of bolts and I remember reading posts about build defects where the inspectors were noticing bolts missing.

My guess is they were there initially, but worked loose. I received three packs today from McMaster-Carr and the instructions that come with them indicate that on through bolts, they require two sets, one under the bolt head and one under the nut. Guess that makes it around $1 per bolt.

Bubblehead · #5 06-15-2009, 06:28 PM

I was at a trade show a month or so ago and watched the demonstration of these as shown on the video. They are really slick. I have some literature that I want to review but they really seem to be a good idea. The one thing that bothers me is they say the torque must be increased by 20% over a zinc plated fastener. That seems a little too general for me.