Here's a tip for cutting down the length of rail bolts.

realkingcobra

realkingcobra

Well-known member
Silver Member
I know many of you probably don't carry around a vice and hacksaw, but if you did, and needed 2 1/4" Gold Crown rail bolts for example, but all you had or could find to buy were 2 1/2" bolts, then you can use this tip to cut them down to the length you need.

In this first picture, I threaded the 3/8"ths by 16 by 2 1/2" long bolt with a threaded nut up to the point that the bolt was 2 1/4" long at the bottom side of the nut. Then placed it in my vice clamped to the back bumper of my truck, and cut the bolt off flush with the bottom of the nut. After that I took it out of the vice and beltsanded the cut threads at a slight angle to taper the begining of the bolt so it would thread up easy. Cutting the bolts this way you don't have to re-thread them because they don't get the threads messed up when you're cutting them down because the hacksaw blade is guided, cutting them straight off.

You can figure out the rest from there in the pictures.

Cutting down bolts.JPG

Cutting down bolts (2).JPG

Cutting down bolts (3).JPG

Cutting down bolts (4).JPG

Cutting down bolts (5).JPG
 
The end results were that I now had 18 Gold Crown rail bolts that fit the rails, because the bolts that came with this table were a joke, and there was no where around town to buy new 2 1/4" bolts, so...I improvised;)

Cutting down bolts (6).JPG

Glen
 
So how could this work correctly if there is no pool cue involved :grin:
 
dontlitethat said:
-\
nice tool there...... my 3" pneumatic cut off wheel tool works great on such tasks as well...
not knocking anyone's methods,
have a good day'
_
rob.M
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What I mean by where are you when you use it, is because if you're talking about using a 3" pheumatic cut off wheel and an air compresser with enough cfm to power it, you're more than likely using it at your shop....which is not available to you....50 miles away...at the job site;)
 
dontlitethat said:
my air compressor that i tote around will run a cut off tool, compressor runs constantly but i have took lug nuts off a car wheel with a 1/2 gun with it, little doggy but hey'...
but i do like that small compressor u got to run your stapler....
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rob.m
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It's cheaper to use a hacksaw, than it is to replace my air compressor from constantly running the motor, which in turn burns out the piston rings from overheating the compressor by running it for so long...I've had that problem in the past.
 
dontlitethat said:
good ole hand crafted quality is all ways a winner..
_
Rob.M
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather buy the correct bolts, but in a pinch, I'd rather cut them by hand, then loose some of the life of my compressor, I've had it now for about 4 years, and it still works like new;)
 
oldroller said:
is electric & does a fine job quickly
Click to expand...

What if....there's no power? In that case, I'd use my flat file to clean up the ends of the bolts...what would you use?

Look guys, this "Tip" is not about all the different ways a bolt can be cut off, it's about a way of cutting them down in length....if you don't have any of them tricky other ways of getting the job done:D I know I could have stacked up washers on each rail bolt as well, but I really don't like short cuts...they look amateurish and I don't do that kind of work, nor do I "accidentally" run rail bolts through the tops of the rails....before I figure out the rail bolts are to long;)

Glen
 
So now I am concerned.....

A previous mechanic had replaced the rail bolts on one rail using 2 1/2" bolts.......(actually on another rail he used 3" bolts with "reversed stacked" dome washers)....

So recently when I had my rails off.....When putting them back on I went and purchased an additional 15... 2 1/2" bolts so that all the rails had the same bolt size....

I then used a single "dome" washer on all of them... They all seemed to thread up normally and none of them seemed to have bottomed out on the rail top....... I did not really oversnug them anyway since they are going to be coming back off again to get the table recovered.

Should I be backing these out of there and cutting them down to 2 1/4"???
 
BRKNRUN said:
So now I am concerned.....

A previous mechanic had replaced the rail bolts on one rail using 2 1/2" bolts.......(actually on another rail he used 3" bolts with "reversed stacked" dome washers)....

So recently when I had my rails off.....When putting them back on I went and purchased an additional 15... 2 1/2" bolts so that all the rails had the same bolt size....

I then used a single "dome" washer on all of them... They all seemed to thread up normally and none of them seemed to have bottomed out on the rail top....... I did not really oversnug them anyway since they are going to be coming back off again to get the table recovered.

Should I be backing these out of there and cutting them down to 2 1/4"???
Click to expand...
Did you measure the inside depth of the rail bolt holes first, plus the thickness of the slate and dome washers to see if the bolts were to long at first...befoe you tightened them up?....or follow the "blind leading the blind" rule....or maybe the "monkey see....monkey do" rule?...LMAO...you're fine with the bolts you used, just teasing you buddy:D
 
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