Castle Nuts On Rotating Assembly

PeterC

Well-known member
How do you achieve exact torque specs on the rods and main caps if the nut slots do not line up with the wire lock holes on the threaded studs? Seems if you are "off" you need to either over torque or do the "no no" and back off from the torques spec??:confused:
 
If you want to play at getting an exact torque and have the slots line up you can try different nuts, or file/sand some off the contact surface.

Most times a torque for a castle nut is to torque to the minium torque--then go to the slot. --most mechanics and shops didn't have a torque wrench in the 30s ---the wrench determined the torque ( length), the mechanic just got it "good and tight" with the wrench. --if you look at old assembly line photos you will see "T" handle wrenches ---quick to run the nut/bolt down, the length of the tee limiting the torque.
 
Do most builders us the wire safety feature these days or do some rely on proper torque to keep the nuts tight?
 
Great story about safety wire. In 1960 my pals and I bought a real nice model A tudor sedan with newly rebuilt engine for $40. The seller sold it cheap becaise said the newly rebuit engine was no good, "it had a noise in it when running". We took the engine out while converting it into a beach buugy to run the sand dunes of the Cape. While the engine was on the chain fall, I grabbed it by the flywheel, to move the eingine, and could feel the flywheen was loose. The flyhweel to crank bolts were loose, because they were not safety wired. Tighten the bolts, safety wired them, and the engine ran great for many hard years after.
 
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