Couple of days ago we left Mitchell (Qld) and headed to Blackall, around 50 k out from Blackall an almighty bang from car/ van, pulled over to to check what was going on, found the hitch pointing 45o down to the road, checking under car one bolt & one nut had broken away from the tow bar to the chassis leaving two only, after 46k at 30 kph made it to Blackall, found an engineering shop who removed remainder two bolts ( which apparently only hand tight) replaced with four new bolts. All good now in Mount Isa heading to Darwin, just how lucky were we ? scary looking back.
Out of interest were they nyloc nuts , and were they class 8.8 bolts , it is strange they all came loose if done up initially with a torque wrench to correct tension they should not have come loose ,but goes to show pays to check still. Can anyone tell me if theres any advantagecif nut is on top as opposed to the bottom .
Hey Jaydee I know a guy personally that has won the cross lotto twice now first time 30 years ago for around $230k but you could buy 2-3 houses for that then around 10 years ago he won $ 870k , so dont give up hope mate
Strength wise, there is no difference to installing bolts head up or head down. However I was taught to install the bolts with the head at the top, the rational was if the nut came off, gravity would lend a hand to keep the bolt in place until the missing nut was found during inspection and rectified.
An additional bit of info, the proper way to install a bolt, is to have the bolt shank, that is not threaded passing through the two mating pieces, where the shear action is taking place, the tread of the bolt is a weakness, because of the slightly reduced diameter, the material removed in making the thread, and the cutting or wearing action of the thread against the mating surfaces.
When installing bolts in high stress areas, or where the bolt is passing through material like a moving pivot, I use a bolt where the shank passes through all items, even using a washer or two, to prevent the nut from bottoming out on the shank of the bolt. I cut the excess thread off. Bolts are typically made with heaps of thread so the bolt can be used to cover a greater range of thicknesses, from the engineering point of view, this is not a good thing.
-- Edited by iana on Monday 13th of August 2018 09:59:50 AM
Did by a lotto in the 8mill, no luck there but I'm glade all my luck was not flipping the van & car on its back !
Problem when buying a second hand car, I have no idea who fitted the equipment in the first place.
All appears to be OK now, at Barrkley Homestead now, leaving for Darwin today, weather is chilly this morning slight breeze not a cloud in the sky.
Dave & Maz
