Standard DTI FAQs
Should you lubricate bolts and/or DTI's?
Whether you lubricate the DTI's or not doesn't matter because they are intended to be stationary while being compressed.
Whether or not you lubricate the bolts and nuts, however, is important. If the bolts and nuts are well made, well lubricated, and in like new condition, you will not have to add lubricant. If the bolts are getting tight (that is, the DTI bumps are being compressed easily and quickly) then no additional lubricant will be needed on the bolts and nuts. But, if some difficulty is being experienced in tightening the bolts and compressing the DTI bumps, then more lubricant is probably in order. See Can't squash the bumps.
The rule of thumb with lubricant is this - *
"A little is good, more is better, and lots is even better yet." If the
bolts have been exposed to the weather for sufficient time to dry out
the threads, lots of lubricant might have to be added. If the nut has
been partially tightened and must be restarted to further compress the
DTI bumps, then probably the only way to do this effectively is to back
off the nut, lubricate the face of the nut where it bears against the
steelwork or against the flat washer, and then drive the nut through the
threads with a sufficiently strong turning effort to overcome the initial
torque spike that always accompanies a restart.
*Note: field relubrication of twist-off bolts is not permitted.
