Looking for a partuclar kind of oval head bolt with Allen or Tork drive

vavavroom

vavavroom

Joined
Oct 31, 2017
Messages
10,673
Location
California
I need to find a replacement bolt for someone's e-trike. On the left side rear wheel the manufacturer didn't bother installing a reverse threaded hub bolt. That meant the bolt kept coming loose and had to be tightened at least twice a week for almost a year. I was unaware of this until my friend told me today. By now the bolt fits very loosely, the Allen drive head is stripped and I have to replace the bolt. I haven't measured it yet but it seems to be an M6 or M7.

I have looked at McMaster-Carr but they only carry oval head bolts with slotted or Phillips heads. Looking around online, it seems this type bolt is usually a small machine bolt. Any idea who may have a good selection of oval head bolts in larger sizes? It's M6 or M7.

The bolt shown is from the other side. The one that's stripped requires gentle extraction.

 
The last link goes to a site that has the right kind of bolt but only up to 1/4". It's a metric bolt. He can get the bolt from the bike vendor who does not stock parts. Getting the bolt from China will take 3 months.
 
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com
Mcmaster-carr puts them here, I'm not sure if the cheapie screws from Lowes or the hardware store are sufficient for an e-trike or if you might want a higher grade bolt.
 
blufeb95 said:
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com
Mcmaster-carr puts them here, I'm not sure if the cheapie screws from Lowes or the hardware store are sufficient for an e-trike or if you might want a higher grade bolt.
Click to expand...
No wonder I could not find them there. They list them as flat-headed. It should be a higher grade bolt but the OE bolt felt like mild steel to me. Who knows into what alloy it gets threaded. Possibly zinc or pot metal. The whole trike is a catastrophe in design, execution, materials, and let's not even talk about the wiring.
 
vavavroom said:
No wonder I could not find them there. They list them as flat-headed. It should be a higher grade bolt but the OE bolt felt like mild steel to me. Who knows into what alloy it gets threaded. Possibly zinc or pot metal. The whole trike is a catastrophe in design, execution, materials, and let's not even talk about the wiring.
Click to expand...
Bought a small, cheap brush cutter from Homier for our compact tractor back in the '00s. The parts were made in China and the brush cutter required assembly. The nuts and bolts were junk, probably made of pot metal, and I bought good fasteners from a hardware store to replace them. We did get a few good years' use from the brush cutter, but eventually the deck metal around the gear box fatigued and shattered.
 
Any good home center should have something close to this. It is not an "oval head" It is correctly called a Flat head cap screw and the drive could be a hex making it a "flat head socket cap screw" or a Flat head torx cap screw if its a torx drive. Double check the angle of the head though since I have seen some crazy specials that had odd angles. Also note that the length of a flat head screw is always overall rather than measured from the bottom of the head like other screws. .
 
atikovi said:
Wait.....oval head? No such thing. All screws I've seen have round heads.
Click to expand...
There actually are oval head screws. The heads are round but the flat surface where the driver goes is domed. Somehow these are called oval head. They look pretty cool when used with a finishing washer.
 
Fitter30 said:
Hardware stores like Ace carry odd fasteners in there bolt dept in slide boxes or google hard to find fasteners.
Click to expand...
Was going to say going to the hardware like ace and check out their bolt drawers.. usually half an aisle.

Not sure if they carry Partuclar tork bolts but maybe something that will work. 😉
 
Fitter30 said:
Hardware stores like Ace carry odd fasteners in there bolt dept in slide boxes or google hard to find fasteners.
Click to expand...
That would be my advice too. Bring in the old bolt and match it up side by side to find an exact replacement.
doitmyself said:
Maybe use a drop of thread locker on that.
Click to expand...
Yep, and more than a drop! Blue locktite is strong enough to stick but is not permanent.
 
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