any reason to NOT use allen heads...

I should have thought of that. I work for a very large aluminum company and we supply metal to Boeing, Airbus, etc. During one of the training sessions I went to they talked about this. They called it Galvanic Corrosion. Of course the problem on an airplane is not getting the parts apart, it is losing strength and then having the part fail (bad for business).

thanks again

i strongly recommend using anti sieze when threading stainless fasteners into aluminum. if you dont there is a very high chance of you not getting them back out later down the road when it time to do some service. something about electrolisis between stainless and aluminum. but yeah definatly ditch the factory hardware. you will thank yourself for it. ejshotgun wrote:

I'm in the process of replacing all screws w/stainless Allen head screws. And would strongly suggest everyone to do this if possible.
I've worked w/bikes, on/off all my adult life, and Phillips head screws is, arguably, the most frustrating thing about wrenching on bikes.
As far as stripping or over torquing screws, that's always a consideration when tightening screws/bolts into aluminum.

I was told that it was the differing expansion rates of different materials; over many heat cycles the fastner will bite into the threads because it expands or contracts at different rates than the alum block. Now this could be totally wrong, just something i had heard. If it is wrong, please let me know before i go making myself look like an even bigger dope

wire, thanks again for the hex-heads.

i totally appreciate that!

they're gonna work great.

--r