Switched from safety wire to cotter pins on my brake calipers

Used to safety wire everything. Even the caliper bolts. Took forever. Finally snapped a bit on a Cessna 172 last Tuesday. Swapped to castle nuts and cotter pins. Way faster and easier to inspect. Anyone else stop overkill methods after a certain point?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_gonzalez611mo ago

Yeah I used to be all about the safety wire life too... thought cotter pins were just lazy. But then I helped a buddy with his project and saw how much faster the whole job went. Kinda changed my mind on it.

wendy6741mo ago

Oh man tell me about it! The thing nobody talks about though is how cotter pins actually hold up better in high vibration environments over time. Safety wire can work itself loose if the torque isn't dead on perfect, but a good cotter pin just stays put no matter what. Plus you can reuse them in a pinch if you're in the field and don't have spares, just gotta bend em back careful.