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Red loctite for CavFab steering?

SurplusFan98

NAXJA Forum User
Location
LA
Hi all,

After a great effort, I got my high clearance CavFab crossover steering installed by myself. Pulled this almost brand new from a Comanche in the scrap yard, cost me $10!! Everything is now aligned and tested, and I'm ready to go back and loctite/torque all the nuts. First, I have 2 questions:

  1. Would everyone still use red loctite on these threads now that there's the orange stuff? The CavFab steering uses Heims and nylock nuts (as opposed to the castle nuts). Wouldn't applying the heat to remove stuff in the future actually damage all the nylon stuff? Is there still enough of a strength advantage to the red stuff to favor it over the orange?
  2. Do I also need to apply loctite to the lock nuts that position the Heims so they don't droop? I have anti-seize on these now, but I plan to torque them down.

Thanks!
 
Congrats on the junk yard find - that's a steal!



I have Iron Rock Offroad steering. I run blue (medium strength) loctite, but the bolts are double-nutted: one standard and one nylock. I use blue on both nuts.



1. If the CavFab kit has double nuts, blue is sufficient. Otherwise, I'd tend to agree with you - heating up the nylock nuts to remove red might damage the nylon. Orange would be a good option.


2. I don't think loctite is necessary on those jam nuts.


I'd also recommend marking the nuts with a paint marker so you can visually inspect and ensure all the nuts are still torqued.
 
I would only run "castellated" nuts with a cotter key or safety wire (and blue loctite)!
 
I vote for jam-nutting. I would be surprised if loctite were needed with a jam-nut setup. The bigger issue may be initial stretch or initial seating. I would install with jam-nuts and no loctite at first, and paint mark it. Drive it to get everything seated, and then retorque.
 
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