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Tightening up a loose fitting screw or bolt

AR67GTX

AR67GTX

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Some one may have stumbled on this before for tightening up a non-critical bolt or screw that the hole for it is worn out. On one of those hex head screws that Mopar was so fond of using under-hood to hang stuff off the firewall and fenders, I wrapped the threaded shank with dental floss and it tightened up great and secure. Now I have a spool of dental floss in my tool chest.
 
My first wife had a screw loose and no amount of tightening could fix it! ruffcut
 
The dental floss sounds great unless the item needs to ground through that bolt Like a voltage regulator, horn, or a manual trans starter relay. So use wire or metal. Or get a helper on one side of the hole with a dolly and hit it with a hammer from the other side, that will make the bolt tight again.

The connection to ground occurs between the bolt head on the part and the threads in the body. You never see a factory sand the paint off between the flanges. That will cause rust and grounding future problems, and pretty fast in the Central and NE USA. Those cars wouldn’t make it out of the warranty period. So don’t sand off the paint on your car either. Run a ground wire to it if you need assurance.

I’ve worked in shops for years and never once saw the factory sand off any paint to get a ground on a part.
 
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The male end of an appropriate size zip tie in the hole works very well too. Snip off the excess when done.
 
I use a cotter key in the hole and trim it so it doesn't show.
Doug
 
AR67GTX said:
Some one may have stumbled on this before for tightening up a non-critical bolt or screw that the hole for it is worn out. On one of those hex head screws that Mopar was so fond of using under-hood to hang stuff off the firewall and fenders, I wrapped the threaded shank with dental floss and it tightened up great and secure. Now I have a spool of dental floss in my tool chest.
Click to expand...
Grandad had a solution for this too, and keep the ground. Small bead of grease on the bolt with some copper filings sprinkled on. Chase them on in there.
 
Could always use the next size up self-tapper, I suppose...
If you're like me, you got a big ol' bag or box full of spare factory fasteners laying around.
I've been known to "flatten" the area of the hole to make it small again, but that doesn't
seem to last (metal fatigue, I'm guessing) and also to use an insert, sort of like a toggle
bolt set-up as well.
 
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