So one of my biggest pet peeves with Heim joint steering is the use of lock nuts or double nuts on the attachment hardware! It fosters over tightening of the bolts, seized bolts, seized nuts, improper bolt length and no real positive locking for the hardware. Sure it works and there’s thousands of people doing it, but I just don’t care for the practice. So when I install a CavFab steering setup on my rig, I decided to use castle nuts and cotter keys. This is how I did it.


One of the most critical aspects of bolt strength is having as much of the shank of the bolt as possible carry the load. This shank is just about perfect for my pitman Heim joint.


Install the bolt as it’s going to be installed in its final configuration. Washers, spacers, etc... Measure how far up you want the hole for the cotter key. Measure where you want the CENTER of the hole in the castle nut.

Move over to the beach vise. Thread a spare nut past where the hole will end up. Align the bolt so that the hole will be inline with a flat on the bolt head hex. This is important for drilling, you’ll see why.


Use a dremel to create a flat spot where you want the hole.

Center punch the hole location.


Move over to the drill press. Clamp the bolt in the drill press clamp. Notice how the flats of the bolt and nut create a flat surface to help center the hole thru the bolt. I drilled these to 5/32” for 1/8” diameter cotter keys. Us a sharp bit and go slowly. If the bit is dull or you rush, the hole will wander off center.

I like to use a countersink bit to taper the holes. Makes cotter key installation easier and eliminates a sharp edge/failure point for the cotter key.


Next put the bolt in the vise again, use some lube and run the nut up and down several times to clean up the threads.


Now is a good time to spin your castle nut on and make sure the hole aligns properly thru the bolt.


Next reinstall the extra nut to the length that you want to cut off the extra bolt length. I go about a 1/4” away from the hole.

Use the nut as a guide to cut the bolt square.

Like this.

Then cleanup and chamfer the end. Use the spare nut to clean up the threads again.


Now just install, torque down and put the cotter key in. Done.
i like to use anti seize on the bolt, bolt hole and the inside bolt hole of the Heim joint. It keeps things from seizing and makes future servicing much easier. This is one big advantage of the cotter key. With a locknut or double nut you have to be careful using anti seize or any lube in this area. Since there is a mechanical lock, the cotter key, there’s no worries about them working loose 👍

 

Great topic. This is a detail that many people would never consider but is crucial for long-term safe operation. Hardware is often not given the attention it deserves.

 

Well, when I saw the thread title, I figured it was a question as to how to do it. I was going to post that that is a job best left for someone with a machine shop and the necessary skills.

Looks like you've got that covered!

Excellent post!

 

Thanks guys!
The whole reason I wanted to post this is to bring more awareness to the hardware subject and to show that this is possible in a home shop. The only “special” tool I used was my drill press, as long as you have access to one this is totally doable. Just be patient with it and accept that ya might mess up a bolt or 2 but the results are worth it!