About this time last year, I wrote in this column about, for lack of a better description, securing your nuts. But from the number of pieces that have fallen off of cars over the past year, I thought it might be worth a little more discussion.
Carroll Smith
The most effective and reliable method of preventing any nut or bolt from loosening is to tighten the thing properly to start with. When a threaded fastener is properly tightened, the residual stress within the bolt will lock the assembly. Even the best mechanical locking devices can only supplement this action, they cannot replace it. The next most effective method, where the application allows its use, is the elastic stop nut. Regardless of the effectiveness of residual stress as a locking medium, for those applications where the fastener will be subjected to high levels of vibration, cyclic stress and/or turning torque, common sense, the survival instinct and the FAA require some sort of additional positive antirotation or locking device. In critical applications, these devices also act as insurance against human error.
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