New Kenworth chassis bolted not riveted !?

Every Kenworth I have seen uses a bolted together frame/crossmember setup. I have seen loose ones, but also have had to cut out many a Huck bolts that stretched on Pete's and Mack's. I believe Kenworth claims bolted allows greater frame twist. They are not hand torqued @ factory, put pneumatically torqued.

 

Just replaced one last PM. Saw it during rotation.



At the air bag.

Old one came off with grinder.

 

I've never seen a kenworth with hucks.
Always bolted .
All westernstars are bolted also. They do this for ease in field repair, or any repair for that matter. Personally I prefer the bolted type, but I fix all my own stuff so goes to reason.

If you want to change out a fifth wheel slider or even a air bag , hucks are a pain in the ###

 

Only crappy designed trucks use huck bolts. They’re better for the manufacturer, not the user. Western Star superior race checking in.

 

Get a big enough handle on a torque adjuster that snaps when the required torque is reached before breaking said bolt... I'll break em if the torque machine fails to snap at the necessary pressure. Failure of equiptment is not my problem. I don't get paid well enough to worry about stuff like that.

 

Large hucks aren’t broken off, they use the length they need and are just clamped.

 

I've stretched a few trucks and lengthen the wheel bases to convert from tractor to straight tanker truck. One of them was huck bolted and it was a royal PITA! The bolted chassis are much better if you think you might ever want to modify a truck.

 

I was told there's a bolt type feature on the rivet, not on the bolt part, that shears away when torque is achieved. That's why they assemble them that way, speed.

 

This is my understanding as well.