I've had problems in the past with stainless bolts and nuts, especially ny-locks, but I ran into some today that has me a little stumped. After finding the lug nut covers for my new wheel covers, I figured piece of cake, I'll just pop the wheel covers off and slip the lug covers on. The previous owner had about half stainless and half regular bolts that catch the little flap that grabs the back of the wheel and secure the cover. They're just 10-22 x 1" panhead allen bolts. I went to homey and got a bunch of new stainless ones and used these and some of the older stainless ones to install the covers[the first time, about 3 weeks ago]. I noticed at that time the new ones tended to fight a little more going in than the old ones, but I got everything on and tight.
Today I went out to remove the wheel covers and the new stainless ones would hardly budge. I actually stripped the threads of one bolt and had to grab it with plyers and pull while turning till the end threads caught. After much cussin. and sweatin' I discovered that they would come out if I kept going back and forth on them, cranking loose a little more at a time, maybe 2/3 left and 1/2 right, but if I tried just turning them left they would bind up solid.
Sorry this is so long winded but I'm trying to explain exactly what happened. So now I finally got one cover off, 2 of the new bolts are bent, and one is stripped. The 2 old ones are fine and didn't fight me much at all.
The clamps appear to be some kind of spring steel with about 3 threads then a cheater thread, but they could be stainless too.
So why do stainless bolts do this? And is there something I can put on them to prevent it?

Your difficulty installing them is a clue. Are you sure you don't have metric threads on one, & a U.S. thread on the other? Not all stainless is of equal hardness, & the nuts could be cutting new threads on the screws.

Hey Danny. I'm not sure what kind of bolts you're speaking of, but I use anti-seize on pretty much everything. You got any pics?

quote:

Originally posted by olroy:
Your difficulty installing them is a clue. Are you sure you don't have metric threads on one, & a U.S. thread on the other? Not all stainless is of equal hardness, & the nuts could be cutting new threads on the screws.

I was just thinkin' the same thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Danny Z:
They're just 10-22 x 1" panhead allen bolts.

10-22 is an odd size. 10-24 and 10-32 are more common. Could there be a mismatch?

quote:

I went to homey and got a bunch of new stainless ones and used these and some of the older stainless ones to install the covers[the first time, about 3 weeks ago]. I noticed at that time the new ones tended to fight a little more going in than the old ones

Could be something a little off-tolerance in China. Whenever I have any doubts, I check with a known standard, or clean things up with a tap or die. With stainless, I use a cutting oil specifically made and labeled for stainless.

Could there be a metric thread in the woodpile?

quote:

So why do stainless bolts do this? And is there something I can put on them to prevent it?

Stainless is perverse. When guns were first made of stainless, there was a lot of trouble with auto slides galling. I had to buy a special lube for my .44 Auto Mag to avoid the problem. The later runs of Auto Mags refined the metallurgy and type matching, so lube selection is not as critical any more.

Certain types of stainless do not interact well with other types, and galling results. When the nuts and the bolts are from different sources, results can be less than satisfactory. I try to use brass nuts with stainless whenever I can.

At work, we had problems with stainless, Monel and titanium screws galling in their nut plates. We found Lubriplate to be a very good lube, but time-consuming to apply. Many guys just laid all the screws on a bench at removal and shot them with LPS-3. By the time it was assembly time, the LPS-3 had firmed up into a viscous wax which worked really well. It was never approved by Engineering, but everybody did it with no bad results.

A decent gun shop should carry RIG +P Stainless grease, which is very good.

A decent hardware store or industrial supply should carry Never Seez, which is pretty good, too. We used in on stainless hardware in the hot sections of turbine engines.

Sorry bill, 10-24 is right. Could you explain "galling" a little further?

Two-Cent version: It is the process where one rubbing piece of metal sticks to another so tightly that small parts are torn away. Stainless is gall-prone, and requires more attention than many other metals to avoid it.

The tighter the fit, the more gall-prone the installation will be. As mentioned above, easing the fit with tap or die and/or lubing will help a lot. My own practice, stainless or not, is to be sure all threaded fasteners are finger-free (or almost) before tightening down. Self-locking nuts, of course, do not allow this, so there is a little guesswork and hoping. As an added extra, a tight fit can really heat up and gall if it is assembled with a fast power tool.

HERE is a site with the five dollar coverage.

Wow, I started reading the five dollar coverage. The Two-Cent version is ample coverage.

Nick

DAN YOU DID PUT IN THE WRONG BOLTS.even the wrench is close.There is a difference but not much some metric will fit loose and some will strip out the thread.you can check with a micrometer you don't have to know how to read one just check that the bolts are on the same line.
lenny

Dan if you need a micrometer I will send you one.
lenny

Lenny, thanks, see my post under wheel covers.

danny I was a die maker for 40 years just make sure thread is the same as screw they will work a tap is 10persent larger than the screw.metric are funny, look the same but are not.Can be off enough to screw up the thread.
lenny
PS I CAN DO MOST ANYTHING STILL HAVE A WORK SHOP.

dan this might sound dumb but it works .take one of the stainless steel screws .put in a vise then get a fine hack saw blade and cut the screw threads at about a 30deg angle to the center of the bolt(only in one place). then slowly screw it into the hole then back it off.try it it will fix the thread.
lenny