Neil wrote, "stainless tends to gall badly ..... " How Very True ! I
learned this lesson the hard way one Sunday evening, after a fun day at the
drag
races, back in the early 60s ......
I went to remove the tow bar from my Chevy' gasser' and I could not
loosen the( stainless)
elastic stop nuts from the( also stainless ) 3/4" diameter bolts the tow bar
pivoted on.
No problem, thought I, after my largest breaker bar with a five foot
pipe on it still failed to budge the nuts from the bolts on either side .....
I'll just grab the 'hot wrench' and that will be a messy but quick solution,
for sure ! It was then that I got a surprising lesson about various metals
and their properties ...... the torch would not cut the stainless fasteners.
The following evening, after much grinding on the bolt heads with a big
old-style body grinder, the tow bar was removed ...... and , yes, the new
bolts were high strength steel bolts with castle nuts & cotter pins. I think
my first mistake was to use stainless bolts for towing a car, as they were not
as strong as the higher grade steel bolts were .......
We Live and Learn. As Neil says, use Anti -Seize compound when you're
dealing with stainless fasteners. Pretty sound advice, I'd say.
Best of Luck, and Safe Runs and High Speeds to ALL of You Guys( & Gals)
Running at Speedweek 2006 !
Bruce on the very muggy & hot Connecticut shoreline
|