Red Loctite 271 Scares Me

[sjaroslo]

I might be seeing that my Wilwood front discs are almost ready to be checked off as "done" on my build, but that also means that, theoretically, the final time that they go together, all of the bolts and nuts should be hit with some red Loctite 271.... But anything that says that you have to hit it with a torch for X minutes and disassemble while still hot smacks of being a pretty permanent situation to me, and at this point in my build, how can you know with certainty that there isn't some silly reason that things will have to come apart again? Is it really that permanent of a solution? Besides not owning a torch, I couldn't imagine that heating up the nuts that are nestled right up against the front calipers could possibly be good for any of the parts in that vicinity.... Any one have any practical experience with having to in-do nuts and bolts secured with this stuff? Thanks.

[sjaroslo]

OK, reading is fundamental. It is only the caliper bracket mounting bolts that get the Red Loctite treatment, so I am more comfortable with the concept....

[jpgolf14]

A better solution would be to lock wire them. It assures a safer connection. And no mess.

[sjaroslo]

A better solution would be to lock wire them. It assures a safer connection. And no mess.

Yeah, but you are safety-wire loco! :-)

[jpgolf14]

Yeah, but you are safety-wire loco! :-)

That is quite true. My last project below. What did you decide to do?

[sjaroslo]

That is some beautiful work!

For my first attempt at this ever I'm pretty pleased....



Since I re-read the instructions and realized that it was only the caliper bracket mounting bolts that they wanted hit with the Red, I felt more comfortable, thinking that there isn't a very good reason that those puppies should be coming off of the car again, so I went ahead and applied it. No going back now!

[MonzaRacer]

first of all it doesnt mean an acetylene torch and get them red hot, heck a heat gun on high would get it hot enough to release. Also remember that difficulty also pertains to amount of loctite vs size of fastener. Do not fear red lock tight unless its a fasten like a torx or hex/allen socekt that very small. ALSO keep in mind that if your dealing with anything stainless, loctite loses about 20% to 25% of its hold.
ALSO loctite is NOT a replacement for TORQUE, its meant to eliminate the possibility of VIBRATION loosening it down the road.
Also if installing a caliper bracket I like red, most times my impact will break them loose without heat, Caliper bolts I like to use blue loctite.
Now general rule of thumb, larger like over 3/8 or 7/16 course thread can use red, most smaller bolts blue suffices and if you have a larger fine thread bolt and torque it, blue will most times suffice.
Also in a pinch, put a line of yello/black weather strip down side of bolt, it can work in a pinch.

[jpgolf14]

first of all it doesnt mean an acetylene torch and get them red hot, heck a heat gun on high would get it hot enough to release. Also remember that difficulty also pertains to amount of loctite vs size of fastener. Do not fear red lock tight unless its a fasten like a torx or hex/allen socekt that very small. ALSO keep in mind that if your dealing with anything stainless, loctite loses about 20% to 25% of its hold.
ALSO loctite is NOT a replacement for TORQUE, its meant to eliminate the possibility of VIBRATION loosening it down the road.
Also if installing a caliper bracket I like red, most times my impact will break them loose without heat, Caliper bolts I like to use blue loctite.
Now general rule of thumb, larger like over 3/8 or 7/16 course thread can use red, most smaller bolts blue suffices and if you have a larger fine thread bolt and torque it, blue will most times suffice.
Also in a pinch, put a line of yello/black weather strip down side of bolt, it can work in a pinch.

Agreed. But I don't think anyone is arguing its a replacement for the proper torque spec. I am not a big fan of loctite in a brake application because of the heat. The heat in the brakes acts just like your heat gun and makes the loctite not as effective. For critical systems, I like positive locking mechanisms. But it has already been pointed out that I am lock wire mad.

[jpgolf14]

That is some beautiful work!

For my first attempt at this ever I'm pretty pleased....

Looks good to me. It only gets easier with experience.

[Kenova]

Looks good to me. It only gets easier with experience.

I would be doing good to get past drilling the bolt head or nuts.

Ken

[sjaroslo]

I would be doing good to get past drilling the bolt head or nuts.

Ken

Luckily the rotor bolts came that way for me from Wilwood but I think that there are jigs out there that let you drill non-pre-drilled bolt heads for safety wire....

[jpgolf14]

The jigs are terrible. They don't let the chips escape, so the bits break easily.

As for bits. I have tried many kinds. I have settled on McMaster Carr part number 8882A13. They are expensive at $13 each but I get about 10x the life out of them compared to a "standard" hard material bit. A drill press is also highly recommended. The beauty of those bits is they are very short and stiff so they don't walk like normal bits. Then I countersink the hole with McMaster 2724A111.

I don't bother looking for predrilled bolts anymore.

[LS1-IROC]

I've never had to use heat to get 271 apart. I use it all the time on caliper mount bolts.

[Twentyover]

The jigs are terrible. They don't let the chips escape, so the bits break easily.

As for bits. I have tried many kinds. I have settled on McMaster Carr part number 8882A13. They are expensive at $13 each but I get about 10x the life out of them compared to a "standard" hard material bit. A drill press is also highly recommended. The beauty of those bits is they are very short and stiff so they don't walk like normal bits. Then I countersink the hole with McMaster 2724A111.

I don't bother looking for predrilled bolts anymore.

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but how do you hold the bolt while drilling if not a jig?

[jpgolf14]

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but how do you hold the bolt while drilling if not a jig?

The most ideal way would be to use a drill press vise. But I typically just hand hold them.

[Skip Fix]

"The most ideal way would be to use a drill press vise. But I typically just hand hold them. "

That would be a drilled finger for me!

I have some OLD Wilwood hubs that used Allen heads that are pretty darned Loctited-weren't drilled for wire.

[jpgolf14]

"The most ideal way would be to use a drill press vise. But I typically just hand hold them. "

That would be a drilled finger for me!

Its a piece of cake. You don't hold the head with your fingers, you hold the end of the threads. Fingers should be no closer than 1" to the bit.

[Twentyover]

Its a piece of cake. You don't hold the head with your fingers, you hold the end of the threads. Fingers should be no closer than 1" to the bit.

How do you keep the bit from walking? regular enter punch?

[jpgolf14]

How do you keep the bit from walking? regular enter punch?

A center punch works fine. The bit I mentioned has a very short drilling depth. 0.6" IIRC. So I only center punch the head when I need to drill on both sides and meet in the middle. Otherwise, as mentioned the design of the bit makes it very walk resistant and I have no problems drilling even without a center punch starting point.

[Twentyover]

Hey jpgolf-

Thanks for the information