25 inch pounds?

[fishndvm]

The specs to replace the bolts holding down the housing to my Merc 25 hp waterpump call for 25 in lbs and the use of loctite type A. I don't have a torque wrench for such an application, and loctite type A is extinct. The loctite company suggested #242 or #243. When I pulled the bolts in the first place, they were coated with grease! Is the use of a torque wrench absolutely necessary, and do most people use loctite on the threads? I'd really hate to learn a lesson the really hard and nasty (costly) way here. Thanks in advance.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: 25 inch pounds?

25 inch pounds is about 2 ft pounds. you can just about do that with a nut driver. use loctite 242 and it will be fine, grease will most likly work as well. on that application odds are I wont use a torque wrench but I have done one or two. use your 1/4 drive set and common sense whn tightening but always beware that extra 1/4 turn .

 

[fishndvm]

Re: 25 inch pounds?

Thanks rodbolt. Just wondering...what if you go that extra turn. The bolts are not much bigger than a #10 machine screw. Is there a way out if you strip the threads in the casting? And how much tension are those bolts under when the engine is running. The force of the impeller is essentially perpendicular to the housing and the bolts. It would seem to me that they are not under a lot of the type of strain that would want to yank them out. Can anybody comment on this?

 

[Laddies]

Re: 25 inch pounds?

Rodbolt is telling you to not give it the extra 1/4 cause it could break the bolt off

 

[fishndvm]

Re: 25 inch pounds?

Thanks Laddies...I didn't realize that. Nor did I think it necessarily that easy to do. It's a stainless steel bolt against an aluminum casting. Will the steel actually cave before the aluminum?