I found a bunch of loose bolts on my track shoes. They were loose enough for me to turn them with my fingers. There were enough of them (43) that I figured I would retighten them to buy some time until I could obtain new replacements and install them. I considered the loose bolts to be junk anyway, and figured that I had nothing to lose. I tightened each of the loose bolts that I found with a 3/4-inch drive breaker bar and a 3-foot cheater handle. I needed two sockets to do the job; the bolts originally had 27mm heads, and more than a few were worn to the point where a 26mm socket was just the right fit. That was a few weeks ago. I finished replacing the loose bolts with new bolts and nuts today. I watched the old bolts that I retightened to see how long they remained tight. Most loosened again within a few hours of use, and all were loose again within 10 hours of machine time. Next time I will just leave them loose until I can replace them. Are my observations consistent with what other people have experienced?
Good day 4bz Our experience from loose hardware is related to working on hard surface the bolts stretched leaving them loose resulted in wear to the holes in the track plates. Replacing the hardware proved only to be a stop gap measure hope you have a better experience. Kind regards Uffex
Like said above, if left loose for any extended time the holes in your pads will wallow out and usually leave a ridge. Make sure you grind the ridge off so that the bolt head will sit flat on the pad or they will come loose again.
The pads and rails can get deformed too if left loose long enough and nothing will keep the pads tight short of welding them on. I replaced good pads (wear wise) because the majority of them were loose. I had the new ones installed at the track shop. I figured a couple hundred $$$ to have the track shop tighten them using the torque turn method was well worth it.
Sometimes you can ream to an inch size that's a hair bigger if you're lucky. royal pain in the wazoo though, even with a mag drill.