S

Spindrift

Well Known Member
Hi all,

In my excitement to use my new torque wrench without 1st getting a feel for the "click" at 25 in. lbs. compared to what I'm used to torquing lug nuts, I over tightened the bolts on the elevator hinge brackets. What is the best source for replacement bolts, and are there some other nuts and bolts I should stock up on while I'm ordering?

Thanks,
bill
RV7A
HS done, working on VS
 
How much did you over torque them? They are probably still OK, maybe throw the nuts away. If you went "way over" throw them away and get new ones from Wicks or Spruce or Van's.

Don't worry about it for now, wait until you need to order other stuff (you will) and then get them, the shipping will be a lot more than the bolts!

You will need other bolt's over time, but there is no way to pick sizes at this point!

Larry
 
Here's my opinion. Return the torque wrench you have now and check out Grainger.com, they have dial type wrenches by Proto, a division of Stanley. It is much easier to watch a dial to see the torque amount than to listen for a click.
 
an3's

i order them from spruce be sure to use the correct designator on the end of the p/n or you'll end up payin several times more for drilled bolts. :rolleyes:
the an 3 bolt will stretch long before the nut will fail. if you over torqued replace them.
 
Personally, I'd replace them not knowing how much you overloaded them. You don't have to trash them. In my case, they'd go in my non-critical bolt box. I used questionable fastners like this for my temporary assemblies. Just got to figure out some way to make sure you get a good fastner in the final assembly!

As for keeping a questionable fastner in this hinge, I consider anything that touches a flight control top criticality. For this, I use new AN hardware. Spruce sells them, as do dozens of other aircraft supply outfits.

Just did a Yahoo search and came up with 5 or 6 suppliers. Forgot about Wicks. Also Aircraft Supply, SkyGeek.

Yes - buy extra. There will be plenty of opportunity to use them down the road.
 
All bolts, nuts, etc. in my shop that have been overtorqued, or questionable for any other reason get trashed immediatly. I don't want to take the chance that they may end up in an airplane. AN hardware is cheap when safety is a concern.
 
When you buy extra hardware, get some AN4-13As for the landing gear bracket attachments. The plans call for 12As but many of us find we need 13As. I think you need 12 of them. I'd check the plans for you but I'm on the road this week.

You'll probably need to buy many extra anchor nuts, K1000-6 and 8s.

One management tool I use is to keep a hardware list to keep track of the kit hardware I use in different applications other than those Van's called out. I periodically order my hardware list so I don't get to a point of needing something in the build that I previously "redirected".

Jekyll
 
Buy from Vans...

Mel said:
All bolts, nuts, etc. in my shop that have been overtorqued, or questionable for any other reason get trashed immediatly. I don't want to take the chance that they may end up in an airplane. AN hardware is cheap when safety is a concern.
Click to expand...

Mel is definitely right on this one.....

But why don't you buy your extra bolts, etc. from Vans? Then he can use the extra profit to keep designing new airplane models for us all.... :)

http://www.vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin...6379-260-312&browse=hardware&product=an34bolt

Just mark the head with a big "X" using a fat red sharpie pen to show it is reject, and wait until you need other hardware and put in a Vans order...

gil in Tucson
 
Spruce have "homebuilders pack" of various sized nuts, bolts & washers - well worth having a supply of spares on hand!
 
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