Nut behind steering wheel keeps loosening - Help me!

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Nut behind steering wheel keeps loosening - Help me!

Here is my last idea and I garantee it will work.. Clean the nut and bolt and then cover the entire nut in epoxy. That wont damage the threads and this is a cheap fix,,,,,,,,,,,afterall the man just wants it fixed and not have to shell out the money.....

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Nut behind steering wheel keeps loosening - Help me!

Putting the washer behind the nut is going to make a big difference in my opinion.Can't you get a Nylock lock nut these days in that size?I don't like the locknuts that distort the threads on anything that will ever need to come apart again for any reason,especially anything old that cannot be replaced.
Locktite works good but I think my next move would be to drill the threaded shaft or have a machine shop do it and use a castle nut and cotter pin backed up with a lubricated washer like you have now.This way you have some adjustability without jeapordizing the integrity of the threads.Ron G

 

[lncovert]

Re: Nut behind steering wheel keeps loosening - Help me!

I checked it today after the loctite cured overnight and it seems to be working well. Everything should be fine as long as the tension pin doesn't break out on the water. If that happens I am assuming I will have a time getting the nut off, but otherwise things should be great.

I appreciate all of the ideas...I live in an apartment right now, and I don't have a drill press or a workshop, etc., so I couldn't try the more complex solutions.

 

[lncovert]

Re: Nut behind steering wheel keeps loosening - Help me!

There is a little slack in the cables on my cable-and-pulley system, so I need to tighten the cables. Then I should be good to go.

 

[lncovert]

Re: Nut behind steering wheel keeps loosening - Help me!

We took the boat out yesterday and the loctite worked great. Actually, the pin sheared (it has been in there a while), so to replace the pin we had to take the nut off (breaking the loctite seal). After replacing the pin, the cured loctite epoxy was still on the threads, so when I put the nut back on, it made it really tight and it didn't loosen at all the rest of the day.

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Nut behind steering wheel keeps loosening - Help me!

Good to hear.I think the washer behind the nut was a big help.Have fun.Ron G