Boogerin' up the Threads

A while back I added wheels to two sagging gates in order to keep them from dragging as I open or shut them.  Gates that have any length to them are notorious for dragging.  The process has worked out quite well until this past week when I discovered that the plastic inner portion of one of the wheels had broken, leaving the gate dragging on the ground again, darn it.  I was able to find another wheel in the feed room and quickly repaired it.

The fix involved items that I had on-hand.  I didn't want to have to drive 5 miles to the hardware store.  You can see in the photo below that the bolt I'm using is about 5 inches too long, but that's okay.  It still works to make the gate easier to close.  You might say that our animals live in a "gated community."  Corny?  Yep.

Gate wheel repair

I didn't have a deep socket deep enought to tighten the nut on the bolt, so it was a slow process tightening the nut with a crescent wrench while I had the gate propped up on a brick to give me enough clearance to work on it.  The key here is that I want to tighten up the nut tight enough to hold the wheel, but loose enough so that the wheel would still roll freely.  For some reason, while doing mindless things, my mind tends to drift and I began to think about something that I learned years ago on the farm from my Dad.

It is a process called, "boogerin' up the threads."  I'm sure there is a more sophistocated name for it, but that's what we called the process.  Let me explain a little bit.  When you are tightening up a nut on a bolt, especially when there might be vibration, you want to make sure that your nut doesn't back off.  If the nut in the photo below loosened up, the wheel would wobble, making it difficult to push open and potentially wallowing out the hole drilled in the gate frame.

We don't want the nut to back off...

Now honestly, there are several efficient ways to secure the nut to the bolt so that it doesn't back off. First, there is a product called Loctite.  It is an adhesive that you put on the threads to secure the nut on the bolt and prevent loosening.  I had no loctite on hand.  Then there is something called a lock nut (shown below). A locknut has a nylon insert that is marred when it is screwed onto the bolt, creating friction against the threads of the bolt and making the nut resistant to backing off.  And nope, I didn't have a locknut in my containers of assorted nuts and bolts on my work bench.

Image credit

There is a third, and much less technical option to prevent the nut from backing off. You might call it redneck ingenuity, because it creates the same sort of friction that the locknut does.  My Dad taught me this process whose technical name is 'boogerin' up the threads."  What you do is simple.  You take a hammer and a chisel or punch and after tightening up the nut to the right torque, you simply bang the chisel or punch against the threads right past the nut with your hammer.  This damages the threads somewhat so that the nut won't back off.  Ingenious!

Boogerin' up the threads

I think the process of boogerin' up the threads has great potential for use in other areas besides repair and maintenance.  Being stubborn or hard-headed is often NOT considered a virtue.  Sometimes people are very close-minded and won't listen to anything that goes against their current mindset or frame of reference.  They are tightly fastened to the status quo.  On the other hand people frequently give up and quit on things, when they should instead dig their heels in and fight.  They too easily loosen themselves when the slightest friction arises.

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  James 1:12

Many times I've been tempted to 'throw in the towel' and sometimes I have quit, to my shame.  But I don't want to be a quitter.  I want to finish the job - as a Christian, as a husband, as a father, and as a farmer.  I think the key is to assess these situations through prayer and careful study and determine which battles are important to us and worthy of our efforts.  Once we've determined those issues deserving of our efforts, we should roll up our sleeves and 'booger up our threads' so that when the vibrations come and the things start wobbling, we won't back off and we'll continue hanging on securely until the job or our life is complete.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.  2 Timothy 4:7