Realized my skid plate bolts were loose after a trip to Moab

I was coming down Hells Revenge last month and heard this nasty grinding sound that made my stomach drop. Pulled over and found three of my skid plate bolts had backed out, with one just dangling there. Has anyone else had luck with using blue Loctite on those, or is there a better trick to keep them tight?

2 comments

2 Comments

tara_palmer12d ago

That bit about the grinding sound making your stomach drop hits hard, it's that moment when you know something's loose but you're miles from a trailhead. Blue Loctite works fine for me, but I've noticed how we obsess over torque specs on bolts while ignoring the same pattern in our own lives. We all have those loose things we keep meaning to tighten up before they fail, but we wait for the grinding noise instead.

blake_murray11d ago

Yeah that "wait for the grinding noise" thing really got me thinking too. It's wild how we'll catch a rattle in the car or a loose bolt on the bike and fix it right away, but let stuff in our relationships or our health slide until it's a full blown crisis. I've been doing that with my own knee, been feeling a twinge for months, just been ignoring it and hoping it goes away.