More SS fastener problemo's

[A.K. Boomer]

I had to put a ladder rack on a truck yesterday and did not even think about what the fasteners were made of before it was too late, they did seem to be going together funny and binding some, then towards the end of assembly a few did not even make it to the point of tightening anything up and broke while threading them on...

crazy, had them all layed out on the table and should have at least used anti-seize compound on them but like an idiot I was just reading the assembly directions,

it's time they at least mention this fact and tell you to use something on the threads,
they supply the silicone in the kit to assemble the tubes together - why not a little pack of something that's designed to prevent this? they actually give you torque specs on the stainless nuts and bolts but most of the torque gets eaten up in the seizure of the fasteners...

a fair amount of them will never come back off without breaking - these are brand new fasteners for cri-sakes,,, if the problem is this bad you would think they would at least tell you to use something on the threads first, if that would even help, if not then they should use a galvanized coated fasteners because at least they would tighten and loosen properly,

all the SS protection in the world is senseless if you can't get a fastener to fasten properly...

[ironmonger]

+1 anti-seize

I have even run a tap through some nuts when they seemed inordinately tight, just curiosity, but some times the nuts have proved to be a little undersized. Quality control problem in china???

One of the contractors that I worked for, who did mostly sewage plants and water treatment facilities, required that EVERY bolt associated with a flanged joint be anti-seized. We also ran the nuts on all the bolts to make sure they were free. The larger nuts and bolts came shipped in bulk, and the threads got buggered up in shipment. A small nick could be 'ironed out' by running the nut up 'till it bound then smacking the nut on a hard surface to kind of 'forge' the buggered thread. Works faster than it writes...
It might seem like a lot of trouble, but as long as you need to anti-seize them, it was a good job for the apprentices. You never got caught in a tough spot fighting a nut that had to be run up with a wrench the whole way.

[Rich Carlstedt]

Chinese fasteners...no doubt!

Surface finishes, even though they are rolled threads are terrible on some I have seen.
Rich

[J Tiers]

If you buy larger bolts from McMaster, odds are they will come loose in a bag.... Yep, they will have dozens of nicked dented, flattened, and torn up places on the threads from the gentle hands of UPS pounding them together.

With non-SS, you can just get a bigger wrench, but with SS it is an invitation to galling. It's already basically galled, if there is interference, and the remaining distortion, even after correcting the thread, can set it up to sieze.

That said, we've put together many hundreds of SS fasteners at work, and have yet to see any of this galling when they are later disassembled (if necessary). We use a loctite type retaining material, maybe that's why.

[JoeLee]

I don't understand why people have so much trouble with SS hardware. I've never had a problem with any of my SS hardware and I have stuff that has been out side for 20 years, was put together with out any lubricant and no galling, binding or breaking when taking any of it apart and never an issue putting new stuff together There must be some real cheap Chinese stuff out there your using. A little water proof grease or anti seize is always a big help. JL.....................

[Willy]

I don't understand why people have so much trouble with SS hardware. I've never had a problem with any of my SS hardware and I have stuff that has been out side for 20 years, was put together with out any lubricant and no galling, binding or breaking when taking any of it apart and never an issue putting new stuff together There must be some real cheap Chinese stuff out there your using. A little water proof grease or anti seize is always a big help. JL.....................

Same here. Can't think of one issue that I've encountered with quality SS hardware.

Was this part of an assembly hardware package that came with the ladder rack? That would explain a lot.
I'd have just tossed it and used common cad plated hardware rather than deal with that mess.
Whoever sold it to me would get an ear full after I returned it though. Unless of course I knew before hand that I was buying junk, then I'd kick my own ass.

[A.K. Boomer]

Was a USA "adrian steel" very high strength high price and quality rack and the hardware came in the kit, although im not certain that the hardware was USA...

http://www.adriansteel.com/img/products/LRheader.jpg

[thaiguzzi]

Like i've posted before, i was taught, and have forever lubed EVERY thread prior to installing. Depending on application; various anti-seize or loctite, regardless of material, alloy, steel, titanium or s/steel. Never had a problem on dis-assembly of MY own work. No thread gets assembled dry on my work.

[Circlip]

When replacing all the fastenings on my Guzzi, one S/S bolt and nut galled. Luckily it wasn't on the bike but any attempt to unscrew the two parts failed miserably. NOT cheap ones but it did convince me not to assemble stainless without using copperslip.

Regards Ian.

[Richard P Wilson]

This is strange. About 20 years ago I was involved in a contract erecting new sludge scrapers for York STW (in the centre of the known universe) and we had the reverse problem, that on moving equipment the stainless fastners we used tended to loosen if we didn't use Nyloc or locknuts. They were a high quality product, very smooth and shiney, probably at that date still made in the UK. I can't remeber after all this time what type of stainless they were made from.

Richard

[JoeLee]

Was a USA "adrian steel" very high strength high price and quality rack and the hardware came in the kit, although im not certain that the hardware was USA...

http://www.adriansteel.com/img/products/LRheader.jpg

Well that may have been the problem.............. poor quality hardware. Were there any markings on the bolt heads???? Some of the bolts I've used are marked "THE" on the head, I can't remember the others, but they were US made. I've fastened stainless to aluminum, galvanized steel to aluminum and other materials and never had a problem. JL............................

[A.K. Boomer]

Come to think of it I don't really recall any markings but will check next time I see the truck,

Iv installed hundreds of stainless into aluminum installing solar panels without one single problem either - it's when you couple stainless to stainless, and we do that in PV panel installs also but id say I only have about 1 in 50 to 100 bind and fail...

this rack had two failures and two or three bind while tightening to the point that I know they won't come back off without breaking, this is in a pack of about 45 nuts with bolts of various sizes...

that's about a 10% failure rate, iv never assembled something with this kind of built in flaw, and yes im kicking myself for not catching on earlier but as luck would have it the early assembly went well and the later assembly required threading the nuts on and leaving them loose for final tightening later after the rack was mounted to the truck, I got caught and even broke one trying to get it off because it was in a slight bind and I wanted to apply some anti - seize but too late...
part of my problem was being in to much of a hurry to take the time to figure out that this hardware had some serious issues...

[Willy]

.................... Some of the bolts I've used are marked "THE" on the head, I can't remember the others, but they were US made.
JL............................

I have seen an awful lot of SS fasteners with "THE" imprinted on their heads and have used them with great success I might add.

Often wondered what it meant, so I looked into the stamping a few years ago to see what "THE" stamping signified.
Apparently "THE" represents....Tong Hwei Enterprise from Taiwan.

Perhaps not a USA product but they have so far not disappointed me.

[Shade]

I have seen were lovely stuff from china shipped with SAE bolts and Metric nuts...

[JoeLee]

This may be of some interest.......... there may be other chahttps://sbms.bnl.gov/sbmsearch/subjarea/72/2e03e011.pdfrts out there like this. JL....................