pic: Unobtainium 6wd - Cantilevered, Dead-Axle, Slot-Tensioned Drivetrain

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

You might want to try heavy-duty all-metal locknuts (the ones with the elastically-deformable bore), or high-strength steel nuts and threadlocker. Torque them to the limit specified by the manufacturer. Given the shoulder bolts, you'll probably need an unusually-strong Allen wrench to make this happen. That's the only way I could see this holding tightly enough in a slotted hole.

Now that I think a little more about this, watch out for the stress distribution in the preloaded part of the bolt (i.e. the part from the threads to the shoulder that is under tension when tightened). Normally you preload a bolt to a signficant fraction of its tensile strength. The large bending moment from the cantilever will also add stress right around that area—meaning that you might end up overstressing a bolt tightened according to the manufacturer's directions.