Castle Nuts or Nylon Nuts? "YOUR THOUGHTS"

[hughezee]

Topic of a recent telephone conversation with Retro Rich and whilst doing a far amount of suspension work lately I just starting wondering what your thoughts on castle nuts vs. nylon nuts? Personally if the old castle nut looks ok I will re-use and replace the split pin and only use nylon nut where applicable i.e. if it comes with a new suspension component. Although a few people insisted I replace all nuts with nylon nuts when working on their car and never had any issues with them, so I always oblige

 

 

So what do you reckon Castle nuts or nylon nuts?

[Retro Rich]

I used nylon nuts on the Acclaim lower arm. I like the fact that nylon nuts help to keep the threads clear of debris and moisture, whereas castle nuts seem a clever device for collecting debris and salt and accelerating the corrosion process.

[hughezee]

Barley managed to get several nuts an bolts off a members Coupe recently, see one corroded example below

 

[Laird_Scooby]

I'm quite fond of Aerotite nuts and failing that, Nyloc nylon-insert locknuts. Definitely don't like castle nuts and split pins - the split pins never seem to want to play first or last and as Rich points out above, they are a trap for salt, mud, dirt, corrosion etc. Also the practice of lining the slot in your nuts up for the split pin - tighten or loosen to line up?? All depends on the application, no hard and fast rule but it can make a difference on a lot of things.

 

So my first preference is Aerotites (preferably in stainless to minimise corrosion) and when they aren't available or practical, Nylocs.