Jesus Bolt Tightening Tip - IMPORTANT!

[Matt Botos]

Hey Guys and Gals,

There have been a few instances of jesus bolts breaking so I just want to give you a few tips regarding this assembly topic.

In the manual notes it states this bolt should not be over tightened. I am going to edit the instruction and state that it should not be tightened at all. The nylock nut should be screwed in to the point where it closes the gap and nothing more. If tension is placed on this bolt it could break! I personally have never had one of these bolts break on my N7 or my E7SE and the E7SE has twice the amount of power. This includes bailing out of auto rotations with both models.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Matt

[richardmid1]

Thanks for the heads up Matt. Is this the head block jesus bolt or the one through the main gear hub or both?

[Jon Mills]

Both of the bolts are designed for sheer strength only. Any compression (tightening of the nut) beyond closing the gap is going to cause the bolt to break.  The purpose of this bolt is to secure the items to the main shaft. The nylon lock will not back off if left completely loose as long as you can see at least two threads on the outside of the nut. Think of it as a carriage bolt.

[flyalan]

Richard.  I believe Matt was referring to both.  The one in the head is only there to keep the head from turning on the main shaft.  The swash follower bolts keep the head tight on the main shaft. 

Cheers

Alan

[Steve Graham]

I'm going to check mine before I fly again.  I think I'm also going to get a collection of quality nylocks from macmaster carr.  I'm sure the system works fine as Matt designed it but I wont use the same nylock more than a couple times for this application. Over a period of several cycles the nylon does loosen.