Hardware Musings

Two thoughts come from the shop today:

First—all you RV pilots out there, the nylon locknuts you need are MS21083N8. They are about a buck fifty from Spruce… buy a couple of them. Why? They are the nut that goes on the top of the standard Van’s (or clones, such as the Bell and its clones) tailwheel. Why do you need them? You probably take the tailwheel off a couple of times a year to clean and grease the spindle, and that nylon locknut wears out. But you don’t have any locknuts that fit a 1/2” thread on hand, so you re-use it—over, and over, and over again. I just found one I could take off with my fingers, no wrench required. So along with those crush washers for your engine’s suction screen, buy a bag and you’ll have no excuse for reusing worn out hardware.

Second—I remember that the last time I bought #8 set screws. I bought several of them (so that the cashier at Ace didn’t look funny at my for walking out of the store with a purchase total of less than a dollar). And I know that I had them in a little bag, and put them somewhere that I wouldn’t forget. Well… I forgot. And the ten minutes I spent looking through my vast store of hardware could have been better spent driving over to Ace to buy a few more. Bottom line: if you can’t find it, you don’t have it. And even if a handwritten drawer note will mess up the look of all those beautifully printed labels, it will save time in the long run.