Castle nuts and cotter keys

Maclab58

Maclab58

Well-known member
Has anyone used lock washers and skipped the cotter keys? They are such a pain and I think that the use of lock washers is just as safe. Any opinions besides the deviation from original? This is a driver not a points original car.
Thanks!
 
You will get varing answers and in the end it is your choice. But, if you want to be 100 percent safe with wife, kids, and grandkids I would stick with the castle nuts and cotter pins. And yes they are a pain, referring to the cotter pins that is.

Paul
 
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With a lot of Old Timers, like Chief, it was a fine art to set cotter keys JUST right! VERY tight & the ends trimmed JUST RIGHT!
On Vermin, ALL the keys had their legs just BARELY spread apart!
Bill W.
 
I've never had a problem on old tractors/equipment using lock washers instead of cotter pins, just always use the cotter pins/wire where it's cast housings bolting together (lock washers don't bite the cast very well)
 
like Bill Williamson says, cut the short leg of the cotter pin off even with the nut, spread the long leg apart about a 1/4", it will never fall out and god it is easy to straighten out the very slightly bent key leg and pull out, my knuckles don't care about correctness when working on these things
 
mshmodela said:
No question to me castle nuts and cotter pins are the safest connection --if done properly...
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In my motor cycle racing days (and on my street bikes too) I used Loctite and Nyloc nuts (self-locking nuts with nylon inserts). If the bolt or screw went into a blind hole, the head was drilled for wiring to help out the Loctite. Never had a problem, and those bikes really did vibrate! I know it is not a Model A, but could not resist sharing this picture of me from 1966.

Now on the Model A, I use whatever the factory did (plus Loctite in some blind holes), never had a problem either.

By the way, they are split pins, cotter pins are those things like Snyders part number A-3122/24. http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/locking-bolt-nut

Sorry to be so pedantic, but I am living proof that the UK and the USA are two countries separated by a common language!
 

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Sure the factory never did it but having all the bolts and cotter pins clocked sure make for a nice looking assembly. Bob
 
noboD said:
Amen. There are different quality lock washers, some too smooth and they come loose.
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SMOOTH doesn't matter, it's the off set ends at the slit, that "dig" in & lock stuff.
I "wonder" if they make L/H lockwashers for L/H threaded BOLTS/NUTS????
Some say that lockwashers don't work against CAST IRON, YES, they do, just look, they "dig" in good, better than a flatwasher/lockwasher combo!

Bill Puzzled?
 
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Sorry to be so pedantic, but I am living proof that the UK and the USA are two countries separated by a common language!

Truer words were never spoken. I lived in England for almost two years and am married to a Brit for over 52 years.
 
By the way, they are split pins, cotter pins are those things like Snyders part number A-3122/24. http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/locking-bolt-nut

Sorry to be so pedantic, but I am living proof that the UK and the USA are two countries separated by a common language![/QUOTE]

We in Australia refer to them by their correct name too - they are split pins. Cotter pins are something altogether different. As for a common language, that is becoming less and less so as the American keep changing things. Who had ever heard of a ZERK!:eek Known elsewhere as a Grease nipple: A ring gear goes on the flywheel a CROWN WHEEL goes in the diff. The list keeps getting longer.
Let's not start on American spelling and grammar.:eek:
 
Pete said:
We don't ask for American beer when we go to Oz.
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That's probably just as well - you're not likely to find it.:eek:
I must say that when I was over there, I didn't mind the American beer at all (well, some of it).
On top of what I said in my last post, I was impressed by the manners shown by people over there too. Very courteous - made for a very pleasant trip.
 
Synchro909 said:
That's probably just as well - you're not likely to find it.:eek:
I must say that when I was over there, I didn't mind the American beer at all (well, some of it).
On top of what I said in my last post, I was impressed by the manners shown by people over there too. Very courteous - made for a very pleasant trip.
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Some of my best friends live down under.
 
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