> > * Bolts specified for racecar use are NOT necessarily stronger than
> > or appropriate for tower use. They MAY be; it depends on what they
> > were used for. You need to know the specs to know.
> > My personal recommendation is to go with Rohn galvanized hardware
> > everywhere. Zero doubts. Zero rust. Worth the price.
I've had original equipment Rohn bolts rust.
I also doubt you'll find any reasonable quality hardened or stainless
bolts weaker than the Rohn bolts. Not that it matters, because even
the Rohn bolt is considerably harder than the material in the tower
legs at the joints.
> Higher strength bolts can also be stiffer, and can actually take more
> of the load as a result. I would imagine that the average tower isn't
> a "ragged edge of material science" design, but, the designer does
> choose bolts according to their stiffness and stretch under load.
This sure isn't rocket science. Any hardened bolt of reasonable
quality will work in a cross-bolted tower joint, the only major
consideration is rust or corrosion. Flange-joint towers are another
matter.
The bolts in a cross-bolted tower joint only serve as "pins". They
are not under stretch or compression, they are only under shear
forces. Long before the tightening load stretches a hardened bolt of
almost any grade, you would crush and weaken the joint.
Critical fasteners in cars are a different matter entirely, and can't
be compared to cross-bolted joint tower bolts. Many fasteners in cars
MUST be stretched because the bolt is in tension only under part of
the load cycle, and relaxed in others. Others have wide operating
tension ranges from temperature changes. (This is worlds apart from a
fastener that primarily under shear.) You **must** select a bolt
that, when tight, pre-loads with tension greater than the zero at the
minimum load condition and has know amounts of stretch, otherwise the
fastener will quickly work-loose or fail. (Many Caddy V-8 owners
learned this when GM used the wrong headbolt design, and anyone with
a race car knows it.) Virtually all automotive fasteners stay tight
because of stretch, where the bolt or stud actually deforms and
elongates. That's true even with lug nuts.
In cross-bolted towers, the legs are considerably weaker than even
fairly poor bolts. The holes will elongate long before even cheap
poorly made bolts will shear. In an application like this, all you
have to do is satisfy a minimum shear strength and hardness in the
bolt. Stretch is unimportant and undesirable, since all of the
materials around the bolt are much weaker than the bolt and will give
first.
The only real worry is if the bolts look ugly from surface rust after
time, which Rohn bolts sometimes do.73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com
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