Technical Lock washers, yes or no

I’m wondering on lock washers, seems they are loved or hated.

I’ve seen many cases over the years where they have failed by rusting away or breaking and falling out leaving a loose bolt.

How do you guys feel about them.
Personally I don’t like using them and will use an alternative where possible or not use anything.

I have a question about a specific application, that being the 4 bolts that hold the mechanical fan to the water pump.

5/16” fine thread, I usually install them with flat washers and no lock washers.

Snugged down tight I’ve never had any bolts loosen up.

What do you do or think?

 

Either blue loctite or stainless lock washers

 

I use them in your application.
I actually think proper torque is more important, though.
I think back when in the late 70's I snugged down the TC bolts on my truck, never knew they had some "goop" on them to make them stay put.
They're still there and never came loose.

 

Blue Loctite was what I was thinking on using, although I have installed them without anything in the past.

 

I've got a off topic Plymouth that can shake any bolt lose so I use blue and red Locktite on everything.

 

Ny-lock nuts with a flat washer are another alternative
Stainless or cad-plated where appropriate for your application

 

I know it goes against the grain here but I consider myself on the lower end of the scale when it comes to following the whole traditional thing. Ever since I discovered self locking nuts (Nylocks) in the 70's I have strayed from using lockwashers.
Of coarse, direct threaded fasteners for the most part require lockwashers but when a nut is required, flatwashers and self locking nuts are my standard.
My criteria for using locknuts at a given time is usually determined by the consequences from not using them.

 

Probably not considered traditional on here, but my choice also.
I’ve found that spring washers tend to spread and then fail when tight.
The other types dig holes into shiny paint.

 

I know there are lot's of studies, videos, etc on locking a nut/bolt.
My Dad drove his own bottom dumpspulling with a '69 Pete, and transfer -'76 Pete, whenever we did maintenance on them...nuts were swapped to nylocs, funny though, never did come across a failed lock washer where the nut backed off...had many come apart when taking them loose. 99% od what we used was SAE fine thread.

As I mentioned before, I think proper torque is more important in the long run.

 

Comes down to the application and the quality of the lockwasher. I have never seen a quality lockwasher such as Bowman, Cat or Lawson fail. Those ones you buy by the pound, I would not trust those in any critical application. I agree also that the correct torque is more important.
B

 

I have been using lock washers for as long as I have been working on machines, starting with bicycles in the mid 50s. If a lock washer came off the assembly, a lock washer went back on. I have taken things apart where the lock washers have failed, but this has been a very rare occurrence. I always use a torque wrench when I am tightening up the bolts on anything that is critical, and don't recall having a failure.
On aluminum parts, I use lock washers against a flat washer, so as not to damage the painted surface or the aluminum surface.
I do use Locktite on pieces that are subject to vibration. This is particularly handy on my chainsaws. Great stuff.
Bob

 

I will use lock washers, [over flatwashers on aluminum] ] nylocs and a dap of locktite on parts that have a lot of vibration like my quickchange. The whine noise is really vibration and it will loosen nuts. No problems yet.

 

NASA and other organizations have proven that a split lock washer is slight worse than a plain washer, or no washer, at-all.

I work for GM, and we also have proven them to be useless.

Use a liquid thread locker, and properly torque your fasteners. Proper torque, alone, should be enough.

 

I've had split lock washers break in half upon removal (quite a few on that 28 Chevy I had, and a few on the Hudson, etc).

I usually put the original hardware back on, and if it's unuseable I replace it with the closest I can find.

Fans get flat washers, lock washers, and bolts. Or lock washers and nuts, if they use studs, such as on a fan clutch hub to the water pump.

Cam sprocket and torque converter bolts get loctite, not much else does.

I save nylocks for things like aftermarket suspension parts, and things that can't clamp solidly.

I found that Stover nuts (crimped type lock nuts) are great for exhaust systems. As long as it's not something that has to be removed often, like a street/strip car that gets the mufflers pulled for racing--on those, I like to use normal nuts and anti-seize.

 

What Gimpy said X 3.

 

I've read a lot of the tests and reports coming from aerospace where lock washers are a no-no. But, on my cars, I've had good luck with lock washers and plain nuts. What I don't like is lying under a car wrestling with a bolt and a Nylock nut one click of the ratchet at a time for the full length of the threads. With lock washers, the fight only lasts until the lock washer releases. I'll use lock nuts from time to time if there's good access but usually if I'm concerned about loosening I use plain washers, proper torque and Loctite.

 

It's like a lot of other things on these old cars....the old ways work fine, but some folks gotta do things the modern way, because we know that old stuff just can't possibly work!

 

There’s lock washers and then there’s lock washers.
There are some lock washers(we call spring washers)that are made from a square cross section wire ,these are the ones we see fail regularly, cheap shit.
Then there are the better quality ones( or seem to be) made from a rectangular cross section
wire that I’ve never seen fail.
Some of the shit ones are a loose fit on the bolts/studs also.
Low strength Loctite is brilliant in areas of vibration
IMHO.

 

Anything that was critical in aviation, such as propellers, got lockwired, but you didn't want to remove something that was lockwired, such as a propeller, very often. However, having the correct wire pliers is an asset, but I hate getting stuck with that damn stainless wire.
There is also a frequent use of castellated nuts and cotter pins in some applications.
Bob

 

You may find this interesting.

 

If there are long open runs, the twist pliers are useful but too often, there really isn't much room to even get your hands in there on the component much less a pair of pliers. So I got used to working without them, and never saw anybody else use them much either, and I laid a LOT of wire down.

 

Where do you get the Nord lock washers?

 

This seems like a suitable place. (I don't live in the US, so it's just the first hit I got on google.)
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/...4108-8d9f-784c1544f834&productGridPageIndex=2

 

In your application, depends on what you want, but while working for General Motors Diesel Division back in the day, they were a big no no. Instead we used thread lockers. Remember taking specific classes on hardware which was actually quite interesting, but I'm an engineer.

 

Nylock nuts are great but can be a pain on removal as there right the whole way off.

I’ll use them on suspension etc, stuff that’s together and won’t have to come apart often is ever.

on exhaust I like using jet nuts ( the nuts that look squished or oval)


Most everything else gets a flat washer, lock washer, stat washer and nuts n bolts.

Blue, red, green lock tite depending on situation it’s used in.

like has been stated, unless high heat, excessive vibration or extreme demand / stress application.
Proper torque is usually enough.

it’s also funny, if you look up torque specs, most things are torque a lot less then you would think.

grade and quality of hardware I think is most important, the cheep stuff galls and pulls, strips and fails.

I like using the old stuff I take off if I can, if I can’t I like using fuller brand hardware as it’s good quality stuff absilable in metric and sae and a zillion types and styles.

 

On my Porsche the CV bolts have a tendency to back out on their own, even after being torqued, retorqued, torque sequenced, doesn't seem to matter. The solution is a schnor washer or a nord lock washer. I use schnor washers on mine, seem to be working great. Cheap in bulk and easy to find online.

 

It appears we are all doomed to lose our nuts.

 

The best locking device is cross threading.

 

The OT Lockheed C5A cargo aircraft is held together with thousands of taper lock bolts and screws that require nuts with heads that snap off when the proper amount of torque is applied. The body of the nut is left behind and I've never seen one of them fail.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I threw away all the regular lock washers in my shop, after watching the video on bolt science.com. That video shows a vibration test side by side with a non lock washer bolt. The bolt with the lock washer comes loose right away.
Ever see a regular lock washer on an airplane? Or on a head bolt, or anything else critical it seems. In my opinion, they are ancient technology.

https://www.boltscience.com/pages/helicalspringwashers.htm

Watch both videos.