HI Pettit. Yes, I thought about that ,as well the metal fatigue that occurs when the threaded rod is bent so severely, but here's how this all came about. While looking over my friends D.P. Super Cub, I noticed him having a difficult time securing his wing struts. He was bent over in an awkward position,and fumbling around with an allen wrench in one hand and a nut driver in the other, and the allen wrench was rubbing uncomfortably against the fuse'... and so this whole ordeal became a focal point. I casually mentioned that a U-bolt of some sort would make things a little easier...eliminating the need for an allen wrench on top to hold the screw while tightening it up with a nut driver on the bottom. Well anyway..the suggestion of simply bending a 4-40 rod was blurted out, and although all the aforementioned worrys were talked about...he was determined to make this field assembly a more easy task to accomplish...without having to spend so much time in a painful pretzel like yoga position. So, with that all said, we bent a couple of 4-40 threaded rods, and he was happy with the new ease of assembly. Now, after many many flights, those little bent 4-40 rods are holding up well and show no signs of cracking, etc. His success caused me to become much more comfortable with the idea and so I incorporated it into my own Super Cub. A more ideal cure would be to tack weld the regular hardened 4-40 bolts onto something resembling a metal landing gear strap. That'd make the device stronger and just as replaceable too. The lack of appropriate welding equipment however is what poses the problem. I'll continue to seek a more reliable solution to this, but I feel it will probably be like the old "temporary filling". Still in place after all these years. In the failure risk analysis, I think it unlikely that both ends of the bent rod would totally let go simultaneously, and so, with only one of the wing struts fully carrying the load, the plane would probably continue to fly its flight and land without any event,...assuming the flight to be gentle and Cub like. Of course that's just my optimistic guess...8>
Thanks for the comment, and Happy Holidays.
Jim