TECH: Safety wiring so you don't die a horrible skidding bloddy death

my front caliper

Originally Posted by Twinkies

Anybody want to comment on safety wire vs. loc-tite?

Great write- up on safety wiring, I know the aircraft industry has been doing it for years,
some race tracks require it, etc... but ... personally ..any problem Ive had in vehicle or home
use for bolts coming loose due to vibration has been cured by using the proper strength loc-tite for the application.

if for some reason the loctite doesnt cure or you didnt put enough on there is no way to tell if its failing besides the bolt backing out safety wire gives you an easy way of just looking at it and knowing everything is were it needs to be

Nice work, when i get a new race bike you can saftey wire it all up. I like the shit but if you road race it gets annoying. Driling bolts sucks balls. I keep thinking that i'm going to do it too the bikes i build but i am too lazy.

wait i know this is ignorant but they make bolts with the holes for safety wiring already? Or do i need to drill the holes myself?

Originally Posted by avastyematey

wait i know this is ignorant but they make bolts with the holes for safety wiring already? Or do i need to drill the holes myself?

i'm about to write a tech article for Iron Horse about safety wiring.
sneak peek regarding pre-drilled holes:

Yes, there are bolts with holes already in them... you have to look for bolts like AN as a part number

Example: AN4H10A
AN- stands for Army/Navy Standard
4- stands for 4/16 (1/4 inch) since daimeter and width of bolts are measured in 16th of an inch.
H -stands for drilled head
10- for grip length of the bolt (non threaded shank of the bolt)
A- for non drilled threads for a Cotter Pin

Bost bolts in normal use would be AN3 thru AN6 for diameter on most motorcycles.

that's the most common of the hardware. You could also find drilled bolts by NAS and MS numbers but I'd have to do some research for the proper numbers.

Anyone have any pics or info on saftey wiring axles? A requirement with some racing.

Kyle, i'll take some photos of my race bike today and post them later. The bikes down at my shop

awesome man thanks a ton

Race bike

Very cool man. I will be drilling my axles at some point. I did practice some safety wiring yesterday, it takes a little practice to get the hand of, it's cool though.

Wasted a few feet of wire trying to get the hang of it today. Kind of cool and I'm going to buy a 1lb spool tomorrow to finish up the job I started. Thanks for the tech. I could have spent a shitload of time looking for some good photos and stuff and never gotten this kind of info. I wish those damn snap-on pliers weren't $120

I'm glad it's helping somebody out there. I hate to see someone get hurt for needing it done but if you think it looks crappy don't worry, practice makes perfect and will work better than nothing at all.

Anyway you don't have to get the Snap-On brand. I know they're expensive but you get what you pay for. I make a living by hand with those tools so I buy quality. I'm sure you can get a 6" pair from Amazon.com for less than $20 but they're only right hand twist.

I have a set of old ones I think they are Mac that ar RH only. I scored a bunch of tools from my friends grandfather who ran an old school service station forever. Before he passed away he told me I could have all the tools if I continue to work on his family's cars. Of course I said hell yes but one of his selfish grandkids who has a drug problem took just about everything that had a snap on label on it and sold it. Even his old box that said Garrett's Garage on it. Douche.

Originally Posted by Toecutterp

Race bike

That first pic is how I did the rear axle on my KZ. I hate cotterpins and I saw a youtube vid and some other "how to" sites when I was looking into safety wiring that suggested the 'R' clip. I added a piece of clear tubing over the wire to make it look a little more trick.

Do you use a Jig to drill your bolts? I see that you drill from the top of the head to one of the flat sides. I saw that the others drilled straight through. The site I was looking at suggested drilling from one flat to the adjacent flat.

Is one better than the other? Is there a reason to do one vs the other?

nice

Originally Posted by Beaner

I'm glad it's helping somebody out there. I hate to see someone get hurt for needing it done but if you think it looks crappy don't worry, practice makes perfect and will work better than nothing at all.

Anyway you don't have to get the Snap-On brand. I know they're expensive but you get what you pay for. I make a living by hand with those tools so I buy quality. I'm sure you can get a 6" pair from Amazon.com for less than $20 but they're only right hand twist.

You work in the aviation industry?
I started class for aircraft maintenance last week and looking over my tool list I saw I needed a set of these. I remembered seeing this writeup when you first posted it, so its good to see some tool recommendations. Thanks Beaner.

Dudes!!!! I found the easiest safety wiring technique everrrrrr.....

Theres this stuff called "loctite" It just came out like 50 years ago. It's a liquid, and it comes in all different kinds of strong! you put a dab on the bolt/nut you don't want to fall off, tighten it, and then it don't fall off!!!!






=]

Originally Posted by TigerChris

Dudes!!!! I found the easiest safety wiring technique everrrrrr.....

Theres this stuff called "loctite" It just came out like 50 years ago. It's a liquid, and it comes in all different kinds of strong! you put a dab on the bolt/nut you don't want to fall off, tighten it, and then it don't fall off!!!!






=]

My view there's Mechaincs and then there's tractor mechanics:

Mechanics (aircraft like myself and vehicle race guys) like to be able to spin a bolt out easily for quick work. If it needs to stay in place then safety wire it. Tractor mechaincs on the other hand use locktite and then have to use a combination of tools like hammers, propane torches and vice grips once they've rounded out the flats of bolts or just cut off the head completely. Then they try to drill it and use an easy out and break it in the hole, spend 8 hours drilling high carbol tool steel out of the bolt where the broke easy out is, mis-drill the bolt completely out and scre up the threads. They then try to tap it to no avail and ask someone like me to ream the hole retap it and stick in a helicoil to get the origional bolt type back in it.

I say this because it's happened more than once.

Found this somewhere on the internet, pretty awesome