Model T rear hub bolts

drpepper1885

drpepper1885

Member
I am restoring my rear wooden wheels and have come across several references to "peening" or "staking" the bolts on the inside of the emergency brake hub. How is this done? Is it a matter of just hitting the top of the bolt to bend it? Thanks in advance for your help.
 
I have had the nuts back off on a mini tour and almost collapsed a rear wheel. Luckly I was near a hardware store and had the necessary tools on the car to do the repair. Some of the original bolts were damaged, so I got a set of bolts from that hardware store and installed them with the nuts to the outside as the bolts were to long. This enabled me to finish the tour. Once back home, I installed the correct bolts and penned them. NO I did not install the original unpenned bolts.
 
So, based on the responses, to "peen" or "stake" a bolt is simply to damage the end of the bolt so that the nut, if it loosened to any appreciable degree, would not accidently come off the bolt. The suggestion to use a center punch to mar the top of the bolt (and threads) seems like it would work and would be a lot easier than trying to bend the bolt.

I ordered a new set of hub bolts from Langs and they should be in today. I will stake them as described. I was warned by a long-time Model T guy to not use regular bolts from the hardware store as they will not stand up to the strain. However, they might work temporarily in a jam as one of the posters indicated.

Safety first and always...

Thanks so much for the replies.
 
Hi. No bolt from the hardware store could stand the strain that hub bolts are subjected to, especially the rears. Use the corect ones that were made for this purpose. Similar looking carriage bolts have heads that have an entirely different profile and are made to bite into wood. Hub bolts have a taller smaller diameter more cone shaped head that is meant to fit tightly into the steel face plate of the hub. Peining is crucial and the best way to do it is to use the tool designed for this purpose: a hard faced ball pein hammer. I have removed nuts from hubs that were peined so tightly that the bolt was nearly broken when attempting to remove the nuts. The old timers were pretty smart characters and they knew how to make a fastener stay put.
 
Staking would involve taking a center punch, putting the point of the punch where the bolt passes through the nut and giving it a good shot with a hammer creating a divot or distortion at that point. It's usually done at 3 locations around the nut The distortion locks the nut and bolt together. It is hard but usually not impossible to remove the nut if necessary later on. It will not come free by itself if correctly done. Peening, on the other hand, destroys the bolt and is impossible to remov.
 
I used lock tight on my new wheels, wonder if I should stake them? It would be kinda bad if they got loose. I am going to check them tomorrow. I knew about staking I just thought locktight would be OK.
 
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