MUD GUARD WASHERS: HOW DO THEY WORK?

Mud guard washers (mudguard washers) are made from mild steel. The zinc-coated discs are wide and relatively thick. The reason for this robust build is found in their application. Used in the mudguards for trucks and other vehicle types, the heavy-duty bolt and screw accessories are designed to spread large loads. Here’s a look at how these load distributors work.

Oversized Bolt Eyes

The hole in the middle of a mud guard washer is oversized because a chunky bolt is intended as its companion. The fastener locks with a nut or threaded hole. The anchoring force required to create a properly secured coupling is obviously weighted, so the thickness of the round metal disc and its outside diameter must counteract the applied tightening force. Again, that broadened outer diameter also distributes the applied force so that a mudguard’s softer material base doesn’t become distorted by the bolt as it is tightened.

Beyond Colloquialisms

The origins of this hardy bolt head companion are firmly rooted in mud guard assemblies. However, those origins have long since moved on to incorporate many other heavy loading applications. The label changes as the washers move from one discipline to the next, so expect a heavy machine repair engineer to call them “repair washers” or “penny washers” instead of their original “mud guard” label. Out there, in these load-stressed applications, the discs are as wide as 50-mm and as thick as 3.0-mm, so they’re more than strong enough to stop bolt “pull-through.”

More Oversized Features

These heavy-duty washers help bolts to mate with their accompanying nuts or screw holes, but what if the intervening surface is perforated or simply equipped with an overly large aperture. Again, this is a job for one of these jumbo rings. The washer accommodates the larger hole while ensuring the smaller bolt head locks down securely. As large as that unfortunately broadened diameter might be, the wide hole is still securable as long as the outside diameter of the washer extends past the diameter of the dilated hole.

Primarily, mud guard washers spread weight by adding a wider cross-sectional area to a nominated bolt hole. In this way, the underlying part, the material supported by the washer and its bolt, will not experience distortion due to the tightening force applied to the fastener. Beyond this application, these enlarged discs also provide a sound barrier when oversized holes are used on an intervening part. This securable part could be a mud guard, but it could also be many other flattened surface parts.

Get in touch

Address:
TCI Fasteners – Topcope
13 Slater Parade, Keilor East VIC 3033 Australia

Telephone: (03) 9336 0155