Shear Bolts Online

[MikePA]

Anyone know of a place on the Internet to buy shear bolts?

 

[forestcreature]

northern tool

 

[MikePA]

Which category? I did a search for shear and bolt and got no hits.

 

[pennwalk]

Mike,
Shear bolts are often nothing more than common grade 2 bolts you can get them at the hardware store. In some applications manufacturers use hardened grade 5 bolts. Some manufacturers use proprietary shear bolts. Sometime these are nothing more than a grade 2 bolt with shear grooves cut in them. For those you have to go the the manufacturer. When a manufacturer uses proprietary shear bolts You may want to avoid the machine because over the lifetime of the machine the much more expensive parts can add substantially to the cost of operation. If you already own a machine that uses expensive proprietary shear bolts you might want to look at a slip clutch which might save you money in the long run.

Chris

 

[Old_Wanker]

pennwalk is right. I just use grade 2's from my local hardware store and have sheared a whole bunch of them without any damage to the tractor or my post hole digger so I know they work fine.

 

[MikePA]

I went to TSC and got a whole bunch of bolts only to find they didn't have any lock nuts, of any size! So, I had to put all the bolts back. I'll have to stop at the hardware store instead.

 

[JerryG]

MikePA,
At my TSC they don't have them in the same bins that the regular bolts are in, but they are on the same aisle. They are in those awful little bins that have bins in the back and you have to roll one set out of the way to get to the other set. I hate those things. The manager there told me that he hates them too. He said that they just sent him more to put up. Yuck

 

[MikePA]

Jerry,

Thanks for the info! I saw those sliding bins and it never occurred to me they'd have lock nuts hidden in there. The bins that were in the front contained a bunch of little pieces of hardware, e.g., brass screws, cabinet stuff, etc., in plastic bags. I assumed the other bins contained similar items. I will stop back and check them out.

 

[BKColeman]

Do most people use lock nuts on their shear bolts? I assume lock nuts are the ones with the nylon inserts? Or is my terminology off? What is the advantage to them?

I've always used standard, plain nuts. Actually I'm still using the original nut that came with the rotary cutter. I keep finding it so I keep using it. But I did buy some extra nuts, just haven't needed them yet.

--Brad

 

[Old_Wanker]

I use regular nuts with lock washers (split rings). I dont think you need anything fancy like nylon inserts. Youll just be losing them in the dirt!

 

[BKColeman]

<font color=blue>Actually I'm still using the original nut that came with the rotary cutter. I keep finding it so I keep using it. </font color=blue>

I jinxed myself with this post. I finally lost the original nut last night. I think it was the first bolt I have broken since posting this.

--Brad

 

[TerryinMD]

bcoleman,

See... that'll teach ya for bragging!! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

It happens to all of us. Had my slip clutch slip - but never a shear bolt break. Not bragging, I only have a few hours on my rotary cutter and haven't pushed in to its limits. My time will come.... /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Terry

 

[Soundguy]

Actually, I think what he is refering to is the standard light duty lock nut, which is a regular nut, with a captive nylon bushing held after the nut, that the the thread stock has to thread through. There are also a heavier duty lock nut which has a slight taper or dimple at the rear of the nut to make it grab a bit more.

Soundguy

"I use regular nuts with lock washers (split rings). I dont think you need anything fancy like nylon inserts. Youll just be losing them in the dirt! "

 

[Steve_in_Ont]

Brad - From what I have seen, lock nuts are used on shear bolts, because the nuts is not fully torqued down. Remember, the bolt is not working for it's clamping (which is what would hold on a regular nut). It probably depends on the driveline, but I would think that most of the time, this is really not all that important though...

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Just a nutty idea but the other day I lost all but my last nut so I wrapped the in place shear bolt with a round of ducktape, when the bolt went I reused the nut. I almost never find em.