bolt question and safety cable slack???

[teeweed]

One of my generator bolt heads sheared off. Learning that this is common.....would a stainless grade bolt be better than the legal aviation grade bolt? Why do these bolts fail? Also I am installing some safety cable I recieved from a friend. What part number do you use when ordering the longer bolts needed for the cables. How do you tell if the cables are long enough. I held them up on my cub and they do not seem to have the slack that I see in most of the picture. Anyone have a measurement on the amount of slack you should have? Thanks again, Mark

 

[Speedo]

I looked at the pictures of the failed generator bolts and concluded that the bolts failed because of movement between the bolt and the bracket, not because of a shear or tension failure. If the hole in the bracket (or the hole in the generator) is large, then the bolt can move about and it will eventually fail. The same is true if the holes are properly sized but the nut is not tight.

Check the bolt / hole fit. If it's loose two options are to ream the hole to the next larger size or to press in a bushing.