Preventing your fasteners and fixings from coming loose is important. But you may not fully understand how to accomplish this. To help you understand the importance of preventing loose bolts and help you avoid this problem, we will discuss when to use two nuts and how to use them.

When You Need Two Nuts

When using fasteners and fixings, if you have bolts that mysteriously come loose, there could be several reasons this is occurring. The majority of the time, this occurs because of improper tightening, but it may also be caused by friction reduction and vibration. If you have determined your bolts have been properly tightened down, and are still having problems, you may need to use two nuts to keep your bolts from coming loose.

How to Use Two Nuts

When using two nuts, you will need to use a regular sized nut along with a smaller nut. Many times, this smaller nuts is referred to as a jam nut, because of the fact that it actually serves to jam the threads, keeping your main bolt locked down and resisting any type of vibration that might want to loosen it.

The order in which you place your nuts is important if you want to truly protect the bolt from becoming loose. It works best if you place the smaller jam nut on first, against the joint. This helps to reduce the pressure that is then placed on the smaller nut after the larger one has been placed on the bolt.

When you are ready to place your nuts, follow these simple, yet important steps to ensure your nuts stay put on your bolt:

Put the thin nut on your bolt first, tightening it to about one-quarter or half of the overall torque
Place the larger nut on the bolt, but hold onto the thin nut to keep it from tightening any more than it already is. If you can not hold the thin with your fingers, hold onto it with a wrench.
Tighten the larger nut to 100 percent of the overall torque
Putting the Thin Nut on Last: Why Does this Work? US bolts

You may be wondering why you should always place the thin nut on the bolt first. Putting the thin nut on last actually does not help reduce the amount of loosening that can occur due to vibration. The two nuts will turn together on the bolt and eventually become completely loose. Placing your smaller nut on first allows the two nuts to jam the threads, allowing for a great reduction in any type of self-loosening action.

If you are having a problem with loose bolts, consider using the two nut method. With the combination of a larger and smaller nut, you can reduce the amount of loosening action that can occur, even if there is vibration involved.

By using this method you keep your fasteners and fixings locked down exactly where they are supposed to be.

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