Your Year-End Fastener Maintenance Checklist
As the year comes to a close, it’s a good time to start preparing for the New Year. Truth is, inspecting fasteners for safety, torque, and traction should be an ongoing practice throughout the year.
Because here’s the thing: it’s a myth that once a fastener is installed, it’s “done.” Fasteners require maintenance like any other mechanical component. Left unchecked, wear, corrosion or loosening can all compromise its performance.
And the size of the fastener doesn’t matter. Size does not equal strength. The material, thread design and grade matter more than just size. Overtightening can strip threads or even break the fastener, weakening its hold.
Torque check
In Understanding Torque & Tension: The Science Behind Proper Fastening, we explain the difference between torque (the rotational force when installing a bolt) and tension (the resulting clamping force that holds parts together). Here’s a quick list of torque checks to include in your year-end maintenance check:
Use proper torque specs (as per manufacturer and material) to generate correct tension. Using torque charts is critical for consistent, safe fastening.
Lubrication affects friction: without lubrication, extra friction reduces the effective tension even if the torque wrench shows correct torque — leading to loosening under load or vibration.
Thread type (pitch, thread angle) influences clamping force and resistance to loosening, especially under vibration or load cycling.
Materials and coatings
For a detailed look at materials and coatings, check out our blog, Extend Equipment Lifespan with the Right Fasteners. The wrong or cheap fasteners speed up wear and tear, can create misalignment, contribute to vibration damage and overall failure of assemblies.
Fasteners aren’t neutral “one-size-fits-all.” Their material, coating, and corrosion resistance must match the application environment. For instance:
Carbon steel is fine for dry, controlled environments.
Stainless (especially 304/316) or alloy steels are better for corrosive, humid, or outdoor settings; alloy steels help where high strength or vibration resistance is needed.
Coatings (zinc, hot-dip galvanized, phosphate, PTFE/Xylan) play a crucial role in corrosion resistance, torque consistency, and chemical compatibility.
For a year-end inspection: make sure fastener material/coating still suits the environment (e.g., corrosion, moisture, chemicals). Replace where corrosion, galling, or coating degradation is evident. In addition:
Inventory fasteners: verify none are missing, misplaced or replaced incorrectly.
Visual inspection: check for rust, corrosion, coating failure, wear, galling, embedment, cracked heads, damaged threads or other signs of degradation.
Re-check torque/tension: re-torque critical bolts per spec, monitor for loosening due to vibration, load cycling, or temperature changes.
Verify correct fastener type/material/coating: confirm that material and finish remain appropriate for the operating environment (moisture, chemicals, load, outdoor vs indoor, etc.).
Replace suspect or subpar fasteners: avoid cheap/underspeced hardware, upgrade to higher-grade or properly coated fasteners if needed.
Maintain documentation: keep records of torque specs used, material and fastener locations, maintenance dates for future reference.
Keep this checklist on hand not only now, but throughout the year. Make it part of an ongoing, proactive, maintenance plan to stay ahead of problems before they happen.
Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash
