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Manual Wedge Screws Sheared


Surfer Dude

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Out on the Tombigbee last weekend and snap - sheared the 3 flat head cap screws out of the port side arm of my manual wedge. Spent a couple hours this week with a drill press, easy out, torch and a big hammer bending one arm back straight and getting the screws out of the other arm. Took a little heat and an impact to get the screws out of the arm that was still attached to the wedge. Replaced the cap screws with Grade 8 screws per one of the post I found.

So now the questions.

Should I have studied up and known that I should have replaced the screws with grade 8 srews? Should I replace them every other year when I replace my impeller? Is this a problem with the design - I have an 06 23 LSV? What are the stock bolts made out of, they were pretty hard to drill out?

Good news - ready to reinstall for Labor Day weekend.

Edited by Surfer Dude
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I'm sure there will be several opinions on this. When I had a wedge like that, after it sheared a couple of times, I would check the screws for torque about every other time I took the boat out. It was pretty easy really, I used an impact driver to check it. Only took a couple of seconds but I never sheared one after that.

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Looks like this is a pretty common issue on the "pre" floating wedges. Check out my post :

I learned that stainless steel bolts can widely vary from very soft metal (ie Lowes) to very harden metal that is considered military grade applications. My factory bolts were very soft metal, and drilled out using a left hand drill very easy. I may have been lucky for once on that. I replaced mine with ones at :

91500A583Type 316 SS Flat Head Phillips Machine Screw 5/16"-18 Thread, 1" Length, Packs of 10$7.37

These are rated to rockwall hardness min B80, min tensile strenght 85,000 psi.

Just to point out, my sheared off bolts were not loose, bottomed out, stretched, and did not show any signs of corrosion. My wedge had no impact to cause this. Appears to metal fatigue only.

I doubt these new bolts will fail again, and i'm not planning on making annual replacements.

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The screws were tight in my wedge. IN fact I had to heat the arm up a little to get them to back out on both sides. The ones that I used the easy out on didn't require a lot of heat but it help backing them out. Thanks for the insight.

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  • 5 years later...
On 9/2/2011 at 11:48 AM, WakesetterE said:

Looks like this is a pretty common issue on the "pre" floating wedges. Check out my post :

 

 

 

 

I learned that stainless steel bolts can widely vary from very soft metal (ie Lowes) to very harden metal that is considered military grade applications. My factory bolts were very soft metal, and drilled out using a left hand drill very easy. I may have been lucky for once on that. I replaced mine with ones at :

91500A583Type 316 SS Flat Head Phillips Machine Screw 5/16"-18 Thread, 1" Length, Packs of 10$7.37

These are rated to rockwall hardness min B80, min tensile strenght 85,000 psi.

Just to point out, my sheared off bolts were not loose, bottomed out, stretched, and did not show any signs of corrosion. My wedge had no impact to cause this. Appears to metal fatigue only.

I doubt these new bolts will fail again, and i'm not planning on making annual replacements.

 

Resurrecting an old post here as the manual wedge on my '05 VLX went got busted bolts a few weeks ago.  I had a local machine shop bend it back and remove the sheared bolts.  He replaced them with Stainless Steel and said they would be good for the job, but I don't know what grade SS he was using.  Also, the ones he used were 1 1/4" long.

I'm wondering if others have used the 316 SS listed above without any problems?  Did anyone find them with a hex head instead of a phillips head?

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I posted earlier in this thread about my experience. The impact driver was my saving grace. The screws would always loosen up over a few trips out. I expect this was because of the "fluttering" of the wedge one the arms at speed. If you have the phillips screws, the impact driver is your friend. It's pretty cheap insurance and only takes a few seconds to use.

Impact Driver

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