safety wire for brake rotor bolts

[bjhines]

I know that many of you will never run into any issues or need to safety wire your brake parts. Some of us track our cars regularly and put the parts under stress that will never be encountered on the street or occasional autocross.

 

I chose to safety wire all of the rotor bolts on all 4 rotors for my Arizona Z Car brake system. I also wired all of the caliper mounting bolts and most of the suspension mounting hardware on my track car.

 

Pegasus racing supplies http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/ sells a few different kits to drill bolts, nuts, and shanks. They also carry the wire and various twisting pliers to get the job done quickly. I used a drill press and a centering bit to drill all of the fasteners for my brake system.

 

It is relatively easy to do with a V-Block and the right bits in a drill press. There are a few steps to help you get it right and make the job as neat as possible. I chose to do the following...

 

First I torqued all of the harware to spec. according to fastener size. Then I marked the same side of all the bolts going around the rotor.

 

 

 

second, I removed the bolts individually and mounted them in the V-block and used a stubby bit to start a hole/chamfer.

 

I switched to a hand drill and mounted the bolt in a vise and drilled through by hand. Once you have a perfectly centered chamfer then you can easily hand drill through to the other side.

 

 

Once the hole is through then I used the same stubby bit to chamfer the other side.

 

 

I then retorqued all the fasteners and started running the wire. I used google to quickly find the correct pattern and method for winding the stainless wire. I used a hand-drill chuck to twist the wire.. but the correct twisting-pliers would have been much neater and quicker.

[JMortensen]

I just did this for the first time too a few weeks back. I used Harbor Freight pliers and wire. It was the thick wire, next time I'll get the thin stuff. Just a bit hard to bend. I also got the smaller pliers, should have gotten the bigger ones. The thicker wire was hard enough to bend that I went with the straighter of the two holes drilled in the ARP bolts because it was just a pain to get the wire into the bolt from the side, but they all are set so that if the wire straightens out it pulls the bolt tighter like John's.

[bjhines]

I put a full twisted wrap around each bolt, but I saw the method you used many times. I was checkin out fasteners at the airport and found that they were messy and inconsistent. Many of them are anchored to much larger parts, which makes the large end look more like a bread-bag tie.

Edited April 20, 2010 by bjhines

[johnc]

Just remember that safety wire is not designed to hold torque. Its there to keep the bolt from backing out.

[JMortensen]

How does it work when you wrap the twisted wire all the way around the fastener? Wrap it once, then put one wire through the bolt, the other around (like I did) and then move to the next one?

[DrSideways]

How does it work when you wrap the twisted wire all the way around the fastener? Wrap it once, then put one wire through the bolt, the other around (like I did) and then move to the next one?

 

Twisting the wire on the part that goes around the bolt head is incorrect. That part should go around the opposite side of what you have there J.M. That way the wire that goes around the bolt naturally gets in tension while twisting for the next run.

 

Some safety wire pliers and some Duck Bill pliers can help with this job.

 

When you first stick the wire through the hole and do the first twist you can take your duck bills and give it a twist or two and then put on the twist pliers. Make sure and put the wire coming out of the side closest to the next hole over the one that comes around the fastener head. This keeps that "wrap around wire" down and not popping over the fastener head.

 

Before you get to the next hole, hold up and make sure to not add an extra twist. This puts slack in the run. John C. is right about not holding the fastener in, but to keep it from working loose. Loose safety wire doesn't do much more than nothing. If the fasteners work loose just a bit vibration will still cause damage. Still better than falling off, but not optimal.

 

Something worth picking up is a "Standard Aircraft Workers Manual" by Fletcher Aircraft. More than just safety wire:) Like always there is more to it than it looks like.

 

You can also get the hat bolts pre-drilled from several race oriented hardware places.

 

Hope that helps,

 

 

Alan

Edited April 20, 2010 by DrSideways

[JMortensen]

Twisting the wire on the part that goes around the bolt head is incorrect. That part should go around the opposite side of what you have there J.M. That way the wire that goes around the bolt naturally gets in tension while twisting for the next run.

I looked at a bunch of pictures online to figure this out and apparently I still got it wrong apparently. Unfortunately, I'm not following what you mean here. I thought the idea was to run the wire so that if it were to get pulled the natural reaction on the bolt would be to tighten. The way mine is set up it doesn't matter whether you pull on the wire to the left or right of a given fastener, the reaction of the fastener will be to tighten. Are you telling me that the single wire that gets wrapped around the bolt head is on the wrong side? Sorry, I'm just not following...

[bjhines]

I have some closer crops.

 

 

 

 

 

...

[DrSideways]

I looked at a bunch of pictures online to figure this out and apparently I still got it wrong apparently. Unfortunately, I'm not following what you mean here. I thought the idea was to run the wire so that if it were to get pulled the natural reaction on the bolt would be to tighten. The way mine is set up it doesn't matter whether you pull on the wire to the left or right of a given fastener, the reaction of the fastener will be to tighten. Are you telling me that the single wire that gets wrapped around the bolt head is on the wrong side? Sorry, I'm just not following...

 

In your photo post the pic on the right I will refer to. The lower bolt @ about 5:30 in the pic .... The wire that is going around the bolt head should be going around the other side of the head. As you are running the wire this will tighten that loop against the side of the bolt head. As you bring it around to meet the wire coming out of the hole I always run the "looped" wire under the one coming right out of its hole. When you put in your 1 - 11/2 twists it stays put and firm. Then you can attach the safety wire pliers and continue to the next hole.

 

Actually I think I was looking at your work wrong. Upside down kind of. Other than getting the loops tighter it looks correct. If I was going to wire the the bolts from that side then I would run the wire as I was talking about. If I was standing on the top side of the table then your direction is fine. Confused yet? Tighten the loops and back to regular programing:)

 

 

 

Alan

[JMortensen]

In your photo post the pic on the right I will refer to. The lower bolt @ about 5:30 in the pic .... The wire that is going around the bolt head should be going around the other side of the head. As you are running the wire this will tighten that loop against the side of the bolt head. As you bring it around to meet the wire coming out of the hole I always run the "looped" wire under the one coming right out of its hole. When you put in your 1 - 11/2 twists it stays put and firm. Then you can attach the safety wire pliers and continue to the next hole.

 

Actually I think I was looking at your work wrong. Upside down kind of. Other than getting the loops tighter it looks correct. If I was going to wire the the bolts from that side then I would run the wire as I was talking about. If I was standing on the top side of the table then your direction is fine. Confused yet? Tighten the loops and back to regular programing:)

The loops are really pretty tight, it's that damn thick wire that makes it look loose. I have to go to Harbor Freight anyway, maybe I'll pick up some thinner wire and redo it. Glad to know that I had the idea right, because I looked at numerous sources trying to figure it out and asked several people as I was going along to make sure it was correct. Thanks for the feedback.