The bracket, bolt and washer connections in my light-bar extrusion assembly.
Why I bought it
The light bar was mounted to added extrusion above the existing rack. The assembly used connecting brackets, bolts, washers and T-nuts, and I included medium-strength threadlocker in that hardware work.
I wanted to address loosening from road vibration while assembling the mount. That was the purpose I recorded for using threadlocker on the bolts.
How I used it in my camper van
I cut and drilled the connecting brackets, joined the added extrusion to the rack and bolted the light bar onto it. Threadlocker was used on all the bolts in that mounting work.
Fitting the T-nuts took extra time. The rack’s T-nuts had to slide in from an opening, so I undid bolts to add another nut. The smaller extrusion’s drop-in nuts also needed repositioning with an Allen key while I lined up the bolts.
The light bar mounted above the front roof-rack area after that fitting session.
My review
The useful part of threadlocker in this project was that I made it part of assembling the threaded joints. It was one of the supplies used while the bracket and extrusion hardware came together.
My strongest recorded lesson from the job is about sequence: the T-nuts needed to be in the right places before everything was tightened. Threadlocker was part of the bolt assembly, while the fitting work still depended on access and nut positioning.
I applied threadlocker during assembly, while the T-nut layout still required careful sequencing.
Alternative products
Two alternatives to compare
Loctite 243 is a named medium-strength formulation supplied in a bottle. Permatex 24200 is a blue medium-strength threadlocker in a small tube. The formulation and dispensing format are useful distinctions when comparing these products for threaded hardware work.
Loctite 243 Blue Threadlocker
This medium-strength threadlocker is applied to threaded metal fasteners. It provides a named formulation for retaining nuts and bolts in an assembled joint.
This blue medium-strength threadlocker is intended for threaded metal fasteners. Its small tube offers another dispensing format for hardware assembly work.
