Castle nut sizes

[ocklinger]

I want to replace the drag link nuts and steering arm nut. Does anyone know the correct thread and nut sizes.

[heinkeljb]

As it is cold and wet outside at the moment, I'm not going to dash outside and grovel under Lurch to measure said nuts!

Actually, if you have the exploded pictures parts book, the size will be listed in there. If I remember correctly the originals would be 10mm x 1.0 thread castellated nut as they should have a split pin going through the shaft. If you use "nylok" nuts with the nylon insert that grips the nut then you don't need to use split pins.

If you still haven't found the correct details by the end of the day put another post up and I will make the effort to find the correct details for you.

John

p.s. As this is an international forum, it would be nice if you filled in your profile a bit, with your location atleast. Many thanks.

[AustHaflinger]

As it is cold and wet outside at the moment

37 degrees C and clear here at the moment

[kerry460]

G,,day . I must disagree with the use of nyloc nuts for any important component .
they are not high tensile . and are not a positive lock .
from an engineering aspect they should definitely not be used on steering components .
from an inspection aspect , road worthy or motorsport . fail in a big way .

sorry if I am blunt , seeing friends and other people die in crashes from incorrect practices has made me this way .

cheers,
kerry

[heinkeljb]

It appears that this is going to be a "You pays your money and makes your choice" thread.

They don't need to be high tensile on a track rod end - the torque specified for such an item is not the same as for a wheel nut of hub. Brand new Nylock nuts are fitted to a lot of modern cars - are you trying to say that those are unsafe as well? Major manufactures send huge sums of money on R&D and split pins have gone out with the ark....

I am not saying Nylocks are the best nuts to use, it does depend on the application. The original tie rod ends on a Haflinger have a hole drilled through the threaded section specifically to take a split pin and castellated nut. If you are using that sort of tie rod end, then you should use a castellated nut and split pin.
If you are fitting a modern replacement, it won't have a hole through the thread so you will have to use a Nylock nut.

Just make sure it is a new one and threads are clean. Not one that has been fitted before - the nylock ring needs to grab the threads for it to work the way it is supposed to.

John

[kerry460]

G,,day . I am not saying that original equipment is wrong .
I was stating , do not replace castleated nuts with nyloc nuts .
the normal nyloc nuts you can buy are mild steel and are not suitable to go on original tie rod ball joints .

also if the OP means also the main arm on the bottom of the steering box .
the same applies .

cheers,
kerry

[ocklinger]

Thank you for your help.
I will try to get castellated nuts. So I gather the threads are metric fine on the draglinks and steering arm.

I have just found out tonight the front difflock actuator at the diff has snapped.I can still disengage using a pair of pliers.
Is this going to be an easy one to sort?

[AustHaflinger]

I have just found out tonight the front difflock actuator at the diff has snapped.I can still disengage using a pair of pliers.
Is this going to be an easy one to sort?

If you can still activate it with a pair of pliers then the internal mechanism is OK. The link just screws in - pull the rubber boot back and unscrew the linkage then either get a new bit to replace the broken section or weld/braze the broken section.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

I agree that if you are using the "original" ball joints which have a hole in the thread, then use castellated nuts and split pins. If you buy new replacement ball joints like alternative Merc ones, they will come with Nylock nuts and were obviously designed to use those.

The Diff lock system should be relatively easy to work out, the leaver from the cab comes down through the floor, Jointed using a pin / washer / split pin, to a bracket that is like a lower case "h". The long part of the "h" is connected to the lever as described above. The two "feet" of hte "h" are pivoted on either side of the drive shaft. The pivots need to be able to move!

The central bar of the "h" is actually two pieces. A rod down the middle and a sleeve, these two pieces should be able to move independently of each other.
The outer sleeve of the central bar has an arm on it that connects to the pin which goes in to the side of the diff.

So when you pull on the leaver in the cab, it lifts the "h" as it is pivoted on the diff casing either side of the drive shaft, the tube on the central bar rotates slightly, the arm attached to the tube pushes or pulls on the pin in the side of the Diff. The pivot points on the diff and the tube convert the "arc" movement into a straight line movement on the pin.

Failure appears to be caused by the two pivot points seizing. The tube and rod rust together and then something breaks when you try to pull on the lever. Or the thin casting pivot points on the diff get filled with dirt and seize - then break when you "yank" on the lever because it doesn't move!

Hope this helps you figure out which bit has broken and how you can fix it.

John

[AustHaflinger]

Just been doing a lot of work putting caste nuts back on a whole lot of areas of my Haffy. I have grown to hate them. You torque them up correctly and you can guarantee the whole in the thread and the nut will never line up . So over torque if you turn a bit more or under torque if you turn it back. As things tend to loosen up a bit with use I tend to go that little bit over.

Most modern cars no longer use them at all and use nylocs - even in high risk areas like suspension and steering. I always us thread locker with Nylocs as I have had a few come loose and I do not reuse them.

Garry

[kerry460]

set a torque wrench about 5% lower than the required torque .
when its reached , tighten to the next slot , very bloody close to spot on torque .
or if a good judge of torque forget the torque wrench .
I probably don't need to say , add a bit of nickel or copper antisieze to make life a lot easier to remove next time .
especially the pitman arm . I had one that took many hours with a hydraulic Sykes Pickavant puller to finally pop .
with an enormous bang , yes the nut was still on with only a small gap .

cheers
kerry