torque for shank bolts

Subject has been covered and question answered. Thread closed.

Hannibal wrote:


I said nothing of bending anything. For someone to junk a perfectly good hitch because it doesn’t satisfy your perception of how you think it should be, makes my point. The only reason for the shim is customer perception.

OK, we will call is squashing the ball mount till it meets the shank. Reese makes a shim to fill the gap in their sloppy parts to prevent that squash. Shim it or junk it, fitting parts that need to be squashed is something that is unacceptable to anyone that understands. I was not satisfied with such a fit, so I milled and fitted things properly.

Lynnmor wrote:

Hannibal wrote:
The only reason for the shim is customer perception. On my Reese HP, I torqued the shank bolts to the 250 ft/lbs max on my torque wrench. Then a couple of grunts with a breaker bar. The shim prevents rattles, nothing else.

Bending the sides of the ball mount till they meet the shank, or crack, is not something that I would do. If you have that much play that it would rattle, shim it or junk it.

I said nothing of bending anything. For someone to junk a perfectly good hitch because it doesn’t satisfy your perception of how you think it should be, makes my point. The only reason for the shim is customer perception.

Bolt tension (not torque, you torque bolts to a specific tension) is not special to shank bolts whatever those are. No matter how special some people think it is especially.
Side grade and thread pitch you can easily find the reccomended torque. Not a science project.
Or just make them really tight.....

Hannibal wrote:
The only reason for the shim is customer perception. On my Reese HP, I torqued the shank bolts to the 250 ft/lbs max on my torque wrench. Then a couple of grunts with a breaker bar. The shim prevents rattles, nothing else.

Bending the sides of the ball mount till they meet the shank, or crack, is not something that I would do. If you have that much play that it would rattle, shim it or junk it.

As stated....check with manufacture, most have their installation instructions posted on their website. I just torqued mine to 257 ft./lbs per my manufacturer (Blue Ox- BXW2000).

The only reason for the shim is customer perception. On my Reese HP, I torqued the shank bolts to the 250 ft/lbs max on my torque wrench. Then a couple of grunts with a breaker bar. The shim prevents rattles, nothing else.

Then there is the issue that these parts are often made so poorly that a shim is required. Discussing torque specifications when assembling junk parts is a guessing game at best. I milled the opening so that it is straight and parallel and then fitted a shim to take up the gap.

Half a$$ed shim fix

To the PMs here so that not have to post them one by one...

Yes, ask 10 folks about this and you'll get 11 answers...why my comment says to check your OEM manual/specification

Fasteners/fastening has whole college courses on this and many write their graduate thesis's on this

Yes, some of these answers are okay enough, but some of the advice might go beyond the plasticity of the fastener (can reuse the fastener) and into yield (one time use and a throw away fastener...to losing its clamping force)

Yes, there is/are several threads about going past plastic and into yield with ARP head bolts/studs. Special application to solve an OEM's poor selection in fastener size/numbers/etc...but this is not that case and going beyond plastic and into yield a bad thing for this OP's application

The engineer/design has calculated the clamping force required to hold the assembly together, plus some safety factor (margin). It can be one fastener or spread over several fasteners. Fasteners should NOT be used as a shear device...a hardened shear tube should be used in addition to the fastener



This link explains it best:

What is Proof Load of a Bolt and How is it Different from Yield Strength?


The green zone is why several opinions are okay, they are still in the plastic range...but they may not have the clamping force the designer/engineer spec'd out...and...might not hold and/or come loose during high dynamic loading(s)

My buddy runs an auto repair shop, he has a monster torque wrench. Many places do. Ask around.