Beadlock wheels and grade 8 bolts
- Thread starter Mike_H
- Start date
Did I get lost reading my taps for that style insert? I swear I've seen them called STI for screw thread insert. Did I fuck that up?
No, that is on me. Multi-tasking at work...and I wrote the wrong abbreviation. You are correct. They are STI taps.
Fixed! Note: I broke the tang off after I threaded the bolt in. Wanted to make sure it was correct before I broke it.
Ok...At the risk of overthinking again...Flanged Bolts, or Bolts and Washers when I put these back together? Thinking about Flanged Bolts, they are available with serrations on them to help prevent loosening...which I can't imagine is a bad idea. But, I don't know what I don't know...so, I'll ask those more knowledgeable.
Serrated flange bolts hold initial tightening. We don't have a problem with them coming loose in normal use. It is when we drag them against crap offroad that we loosen them and the serrated flange won't even begin to slow that down. Plus, I'd have some concerns about the small ridges that bite under normal circumstances to resist loosening working their way into the fairly soft lock ring when would be the same as loosening since that is reducing the torque value.
I'm not opposed to the smooth flange bolt, I'd have to do some testing to see if the friction changes due to a difference in the faying surface area which could change the torque value. But, I also suspect with A/S slobbered all over the place, it may not matter.
The deciding factor in what I would do is which one sticks out further. Flange/washer head cap screws tend to be taller than the stack height of a normal cap screw and gr.8 washer.
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So, just to close the loop here. These wheels do not have inserts. I did some searching this weekend, and came to that conclusion. I also talked with Walker Evan themselves, and they confirmed.
@sab ay least they are drilled 48 times. I ran the calcs with AI (cuz I’m lazy) and there is plenty of shear strength in the aluminum. So, in theory, it should work…but there is a back up set and I might know a guy with a CNC big enough to redrill ALL the holes and put inserts in, if he were so inclined!
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I wouldn't even know where to start to calculate anything in cast aluminum. There are a bunch of assumptions that would have to be trusted that would lead me to put in some solid barrel inserts of some sort. Plus if you do that, then that little brain tickle goes away that makes you wonder.
Wouldn’t those same issues be present to hold the insert vs the bolt? I guess for repeated application, an insert makes more sense…but if you’re concerned about threads pulling, that concern is there regardless (at least the way I think about things)
My brain tickle says there is an interaction based on friction and load between the bolt threads and the threads in the cast aluminum that has the potential to be damaging or make a soft spot reveal itself under load. Since the inserts are installed in a near zero load condition and then protect the integrity of the threaded hole in the aluminum, I'm better off with inserts. I will let the removal of future worry dictate effort and expense upfront.
However, all of that may be due to the fact that I see lots of "time-sert" style inserts used to make reliable threaded holes in the manufacture of products and don't view them strictly as a repair product. I know for a fact I would be a whole bunch happier not having to repair oil pan mounting holes in the 42RLE and I wouldn't if even only a select few were sent out with inserts from the factory.
The View attachment 678909 is because I wouldn't trust AI to get those calculations correct.
I wouldn’t trust it for precision…and if it was something for anyone but me. In the generalities I was talking thru, it made sense. I also asked it to “show its work”. The equations it was using were correct.
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