mikeyj350
Well Known Member
Well, here I sit with some broken bolts and a frown...
I thought this morning was going to be a rewarding and quick session before work, exchanging six AN3-5A bolts in the tailcone with six brand new AN3C-5A stainless bolts (and corresponding ss washers/locknuts) that I had just tacked on to my last order from Spruce. Sounds easy enough, right?
The old hardware backed out just fine, but when installing the new bolts, the threads seemed to get stuck while still a few turns short of tight (yes, they are the correct length and still had more thread to go). I said whoop, something's wrong, and went to back it off... it didn't want to go, a little more force and SNAP! The bolt broke. So I said ok, must have been a bad bolt or locknut or something, or maybe a little piece of debris got in there. So for my next bolt, I made absolutely sure it was clean and the threads looked good. SNAP! Same thing.
I climbed out of the tailcone, slithered out the baggage door and took a third bolt and bench-tested it. I got it fully threaded, and then went to back it off. SNAP!
Believe it or not, I've tightened bolts before, typically with unbounded success. I feel like I possess the necessary qualifications to tighten THESE bolts. I'm not going to waste a 4th bolt here until I figure out what's going on. What's different about stainless? Am I supposed to lube these or something? Are they defective? Improper technique?
The learning experience continues...
I thought this morning was going to be a rewarding and quick session before work, exchanging six AN3-5A bolts in the tailcone with six brand new AN3C-5A stainless bolts (and corresponding ss washers/locknuts) that I had just tacked on to my last order from Spruce. Sounds easy enough, right?
The old hardware backed out just fine, but when installing the new bolts, the threads seemed to get stuck while still a few turns short of tight (yes, they are the correct length and still had more thread to go). I said whoop, something's wrong, and went to back it off... it didn't want to go, a little more force and SNAP! The bolt broke. So I said ok, must have been a bad bolt or locknut or something, or maybe a little piece of debris got in there. So for my next bolt, I made absolutely sure it was clean and the threads looked good. SNAP! Same thing.
I climbed out of the tailcone, slithered out the baggage door and took a third bolt and bench-tested it. I got it fully threaded, and then went to back it off. SNAP!
Believe it or not, I've tightened bolts before, typically with unbounded success. I feel like I possess the necessary qualifications to tighten THESE bolts. I'm not going to waste a 4th bolt here until I figure out what's going on. What's different about stainless? Am I supposed to lube these or something? Are they defective? Improper technique?
The learning experience continues...