MTFCA Forum

All the nuts and bolts on the whole steering system on my ‘25 Coupe were changed to the modern style with self locking nuts that do not work properly which I feel is dangerous. I have temporary applied medium Loc-Tite to all threads but would prefer the original set up. The parts suppliers carry castellated nuts but few bolts with cotter pin holes already drilled.

I remember a tool I saw years ago, a block with v’s where you could place a bolt and drill a hole straight through the threaded part. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the tool. I do not have a drill press so need something to allow me to hold and drill straight. Any ideas?

Donnie Brown may have an extra, worth asking

Excellent ideas on the attached thread! Thank you…..

For one or two, putting a castle nut on to guide a drill bit works well, too, and cheaper. Double nut it if you are worried about it moving.

I used ni-lock nuts and didn't have any issue with them coming loose.

Maybe someone in the past fiddled with them. Can the nuts be re-used or are they a one time application to work properly? When I received the T I spent a 1/2 day greasing/oiling and tightening every nut and bolt on the car from front to back. Some on the front end were only finger tight.

The Nyloc nuts are strictly one-time use (although many have used them over and over with no ill effect) and should be replaced, and they should not be on a T that is or should be a representation of how one looked in the past, as the nylocs were invented in 1931, although they at first used fiber inserts instead of nylon, the true Nyloc nuts were not produced until around 1964.
Nylocs work fine at low torque applications but offer almost no extra locking power at high torque applications, where lock rings, cotter pins, safety wire or double nuts are to be used.
At least on my steering gear i would not want to use nylon "lock" nuts but cotter pins instead

I do have a drill press and used an old castle nut and clamped the nut and bolt down to the drill press bed and drilled them that way. I would imagine that you could put the nut and bolt head in a vise and they should be the same size and the vice will clamp them both in place and hand drill the same way. My issue with castle nuts and cotter pins is that it seem like I'm tightening them too tight or too loose to get the hole to line up. Wonder if "pinning" the threads of the existing bolts and nuts while in place would keep the nuts from vibrating loose. Strike the threads as close to a tightened nut as possible with adrift punch and it will distort a thread on the bolt enough to prevent the nut from coming loose but they can be removed with a wrench as it will straighten out the one smashed thread.

If it really, really bothers you, a belt sander and exactly 1 second of your time will make a nut go from "too tight" to "tight enough".

Other than Main and rod bearings, it really doesn't matter all that much...wherever a nut starts to snug down, the next notch is where it belongs.

I have often used modern bolts when I didn't have originals. That requires grinding and buffing away the modern markings, drilling cotter holes, stripping off the cad plating (paint won't stick to it), painting, and baking. But the cognoscenti will spot them because the modern heads are shorter. That's why I watch for cans of original hardware at auctions and swap meets.