[Healeys] Keeping rear shock bolts tight

[Bob Spidell]

Threadlocker works great on the front shock bolts, but I've not had much 
success with it on the rear shock bolts.  Here's my theory why:

When you apply threadlocker to a bolt it effectively glues it to a nut.  
On the front shock plates, where the nuts are captive, this approach 
works, but on the rears gluing the bolt to the nut doesn't do much good 
(except let/require the bolt and nut to rotate as an assembly).  I don't 
care for split lockwashers myself, but in this application they seem to 
work better than threadlocker (putting some sort of friction material 
between the shock and the mount makes sense, too).

Bob

On 1/4/2016 4:36 PM, Richard Ewald wrote:
> Under most conditions a properly torqued bolt won't come loose unless 
> exposed to extreme vibration. Books I have read on race car prep are 
> very down on split lock washers as the authors feel that the bolt has 
> too loosen before the lock washer digs in. They much prefer using 
> Loctite, new locking nuts or if that is not adequate drilled and 
> safety wired hardware.
> Personally I think if you are going to go with lock washers go full 
> Brit style. Bolt, lock washer, flat washer, bracket, shock, bracket, 
> flat washer, lock washer, nut.
> If you use Loctite the surfaces must be absolutely clean. No grease, 
> no rust, no crud built up in the threads. Use a new nut and bolt if 
> possible. Spray the bolt and nut with brake clean just before assembly 
> to make sure everything is clean. Do not use red Loctite, use blue. 
> When properly applied red will tear the threads off a grade 8 bolt 
> (I've done it!). That's a little more staying power than you need.
> Rick
>

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