# My fellow ice fishermen, a suggestion



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I strongly recommend each of you remove the allen bolt that attaches your auger to your head unit, stop off at your local favorite Hardware store, find identical sized bolts and buy 2 or three. Also buy a allen head wrench that fits it. Now duct tape the spare bolt(s) and allen wrench to your auger. Wrap them up good so they are there forever.

Cuz lemme tell you, when you are 3.5 hours from home on some remote lake with no cell service and you flip the power switch on your auger and the motor spins but the blade doesnt because the bolt fell out along the way somehow... NOT FUN.

Just say'n. Get spares. Get a wrench... physically attach both to your auger so you always have them with you. Oh, and dont trust locktite blue to hold anything together either... just say'n.

-DallanC


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Oh, no.........................................

Hope the whole trip wasn't ruined.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

As crazy as it sounds... it wasnt. I had my extension mounted on my auger. It had a bolt that was blue-locktited on. Oddly... it was loose. I was able to use my leatherman and carefully remove it. That allowed me to just remove it and use the bolt on the main auger section. 

Really lucky... it could have very well been two lost bolts. But its lucky the blue locktite had "failed" and the bolt loosened up, otherwise i'd have never gotten it out without a wrench.

Crazy eh? Fishing was slow... TONS of fish on the cameras, I mean huge schools, they just weren't willing to strike. We did ok though, full limits for the 3 of us over 5 hours.

-DallanC


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

That would be one of the things that DucTape wouldn't fix.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Glad your trip wasn't a total bust! 


I'm still using the gas auger I've had for 15+ years, just cant bring myself to spending $600 for a "Green Machine" E Auger. Every fall, I clean the Auger up, sharpen the blades, and give it a once over. I have changed the Allen head bolt a couple times, and yes, I use Loctite. What happened to you Dallan, happened to a friend 5 years ago. 


Thanks for sharing and the "heads up" on the Auger bolt!


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

Equipment failure always stinks. 
Very good advice.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

It was a crazy day. I had a hard time deciding between taking snowmobiles or atvs... I loathe driving snowmobiles over barren ground, and figured things would be melted off enough to get around on atvs, so thats what we took. They were fine on the way in, main road was fairly well packed down with snow. Snowmobiles would have been the best idea in retrospect. My son drifted too far from center and broke through the crust, a quick yank with the tow strap and we were off.

Halfway to the lake we came across a buried ram truck with 2 guys shoveling away. It was right on a narrow spot we had a hard time getting around them. We had to shovel alot of snow to clear enough room for us to cleat them. Once on the other side, we chained all 3 atvs together and he tried to winch against us. Didnt work, we were too light and it just drug us all up to his truck. They were all friendly, and were about half dug out already so they told just to just go fish while they worked on it. We did, told them if they were still there on the return trip we'd stay with them until they were out or give them rides out. They got out about 45 min later and backed up the entire way back to the lakes dam (crazy!) and were fishing there.

That afternoon, the way back was a mess, the sun was hot and all the crust melted. We had a bunch of stucks / unstucks, but we made it back. Overall, a little frustrating of a trip but still fun. 

Beautiful day on the mountain.


-DallanC


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

Project Farm did a test on treadlockers. Loctite came in last. Probably good to use a better threadlocker. Even better to have spare parts. Glad you didn't let it ruin your day.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Any thread locker will break down over time. 

I have found that with my hunting rifles that I really need to reapply it to the scope mounting screws every few years. The key thing is that you need to de grease what you are putting it on which very few do. 

About the only sure thing is to weld the piece in place and even then they welds will start to break given enough time.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Would a lock nut work? I use them a lot.


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## Animediniol (Sep 26, 2017)

bowgy said:


> Would a lock nut work? I use them a lot.


Same, I often use lock nut. But I'm not sure if it really works.


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