The late Carroll Smith--well-known race chassis builder--hated 'em. I'll
generally try to avoid them--esp. on Al or
other soft metal--and use proper torque and threadlocker instead (Locktite
threadlocker now comes as a tape that is
almost as convenient as it is expensive). Note that in critical
applications--head bolts/nuts, bearing caps,
etc.--they're generally not used.
However, I used torque/threadlocker only on my rear shock mounting bolts and
one of them worked loose. Re-tightened
with split washers and they've held for 15K miles or more. On my front shocks
I use grade 8 flatwashers, threadlocker
and nominal torque. Never had one work loose.
Bob
On 6/22/2011 2:52 AM, Derek Job wrote:
> All,
>
> Yesterday must have been a slow day as I found myself googling 'spring
> washers' in the interests of increasing my limited knowledge of all things
> mechanical.
>
> One of the results was the artilce below, with video tests, which concludes
> that under various circumstances,spring washers, as well as not preventing
> screw loosening, can actually make it worse.
>
> Interesting stuff. What is the view of the list experts out there?
>
> http://www.boltscience.com/pages/helicalspringwashers.htm
>
> cheers
>
> Derek
> _______________________________________________
>
--
*******************************************************************
Bob Spidell San Jose, CA bspidell@comcast.net
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