Hendrickson Trailer Suspension Systems (Canton, OH) is a division of Hendrickson International, the world's largest supplier of air-ride trailer suspensions. Like many manufacturers, engineers at the Canton plant are concerned with fastener performance, especially where the trailer subframes are attached to each suspension's air springs. On the one hand, the fasteners need to be secure. On the other, they need to be easy to install.
"In our industry, prevailing torque nuts are standard, but problematic in certain applications," says Hendrickson senior project engineer Greg Copeland. "Since air spring studs are relatively long and use fine threads, it took significant time and effort to run them down the stud."