Floppy rear wing!!

[autobackup]

Was returning back home late last night when there was occasionally a distinct rattle coming from the backside of my Atom!

It was dark last night so I put it to bed under it's cover and investigated what might be the cause this morning!

Well I discovered that the two lower M8x30 Socket Head mounting bolts that hold the both the wing and the number plate to the chassis have gone AWOL without permission!

Also the nuts holding on the number plate light are also missing - I spoke to the factory this AM and we both think that the nylon in the Nyloc nuts (as fitted by the factory) may have degraded (or melted?) due the the proximity of the exhaust and the the engine vibration (plus hot/cold cycling) probably did the rest.

I shall be replacing the nyloc nuts with Nord lock washers with a dab of loctite (initially pro-tem with mild steel bolts as I will need to order the correct stainless socket cap bolts, washers and nuts which are currently out of stock in Cyprus - but due to arrive in stock at the end of next week)

[phil4]

Anyone used threadlock in these instances?

I've used it on highly vibrating R/C cars... but not the atom. Benefit was always that nuts and screws could be undone, but didn't vibrate themselves out.

[rowmrob]

Snap

I had a wobbly rear wing all the way round Switzerland on Italian road Trip 2018 last September.

Turned out bottom bolts were indeed lose.

[autobackup]

Threadlock or Loctite - it's a toss up!!

Having had a further reprise of thought I have been wondering about the feasibility of fitting a couple of stainless tab-lock washers - I rather think that fitting these should be rather effective and, hopefully, stop the nuts vibrating loose again in the future?

with this type of washer any type of locking fluid should, in theory, be unnecessary!

[autobackup]

I have now temporarily repaired it by replacing the missing M8x30 boths with mild steel bolts and nyloc nuts - the correct stainless bolts & bits are on back order and should arrive by the end of next week.

However, this time, I have put in the bolts 'back to front' with the Nyloc nuts on the number plate side so hopefully this time they won't be melted by being too close to the exhaust.

I have ordered 2 off s/s socket head M8x30 bolts, tab washers and nuts so when the tab washers are bent over they should effectively retain the nut without them needing to be Nylocs or need an application of Threadlock or Loctite?

The only problem that I can foresee is going to be getting at the tab washers to bend them as the working space is very limited!!

[phil4]

You had me watching this... which I thought was an interesting comparison. Note to self... don't use a washer.

[Fastlane]

You had me watching this... which I thought was an interesting comparison. Note to self... don't use a washer.

God I'm sad, but I enjoyed that. Coming to an Atom near you soon...probably!

[Sir Nick]

Mine did the same, twice. But not moved since I used loctite on um.

[dunny]

Nomad owners don’t get floppys

[autobackup]

Phil

That is a very interesting YouTube video!

- I was aware that Nord Lock washers are recommended for use in extreme vibration areas (they are extensively used in aviation applications) but I had never seen a demo of their effectiveness before.

As a result I have now ordered a pack of 5 pairs of stainless steel M8 Nord Locks from Amazon - possibly not the cheapest option but at least they will ship them to Cyprus - Amazon claim that they will arrive towards the end of June!!



Hopefully using them will sort out the vibration/heat cycle problem instead of using the normal factory fitted nylocs so close to the exhaust?

[reg]

https://www.fastenright.com/general-fix ... -nuts/sl01