Eye Bolt Or Eye Swivels – Which One Should You Choose

Thursday August 25th, 2022 / by Sunil Yadav

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When it comes to rigging and lifting heavy loads, selecting the right tool can make a whole lot of difference. The right tool can speed up your task, ensure safety, and prevent costly delays or damages. Whether a one-off application or a repeated task, you should always choose the hardware best suited for the job.

One of the most common dilemmas people face is, eye bolt vs eye swivels – which one is a better choice? You will have to make this choice every time you order your industrial hardware supply. So, let’s clear your confusion once and for all.

But before answering this question, let’s dig a little deeper into what an eye bolt and an eye swivel hook are.

1. What Is an Eye bolt?

An eye bolt is one of the most popular rigging hardware out there. It usually acts as a stationary lifting point. You can use these bolts for angular lifts. But you will need to consider a significant reduction in the working load limit or WLL. Still, its sturdy rigging hardware is used in almost every type of vertical lift.

Like industrial slings and shackles, eye bolts come in different sizes and shapes, such as shouldered and non-shouldered eye bolts. You can get eye bolts in the load range of 200 lbs. to 65,000 lbs. You will need to choose a bolt depending on the rated load and other considerations of your rigging application.

As mentioned earlier, eye bolts are primarily used for rigging, anchoring, pulling, or hoisting. They are mostly used in lifting containers, steel plates, and motors, among other things.

Benefits

  • It’s super easy to learn how to use eye bolts.
  • They are less expensive compared to eye swivel hooks.

Disadvantages

  • Eye bolts are stationary lifting points, making them suitable only for straight-up, vertical, and in-line lifts.
  • Eye bolts offer a relatively lower rated load capacity, which is 65000 lbs. max. On the other hand, eye swivel hooks can lift up to 250000 lbs.
  • You can use them for angular lifts, but you must use only shouldered eye bolts with a reduction in WLL. According to ASME 30.26 standard, you can rig only 55% of rated load for 5° to 15° angle, while it goes down to 25% of rated load for 16° to 90° angle lifts.

2. What Is an Eye Swivel?

Eye swivels are also a popular type of rigging hardware. They are used in different applications for hosting and aligning rigging components. Eye swivels come in different shapes and sizes. These include eye swivel hooks, eye swivel hoist rings, and double-eye swivels (also called eye-to-eye swivels).

Each type of swivel comes with its own qualities. For example, double-eye swivels have two end fittings held together by a threaded shaft and a nut. The swivel can rotate freely. But it stays put once you lift a load. These eye swivels help reduce stress due to the misalignment of the load.

On the other hand, swivel hoist rings allow you to lift loads at different angles. These rings can pivot 180° and/or swivel 360° from the screw’s axis. The rated load of swivel hoist rings ranges from 800 lbs. to 250,000 lbs.

Eye swivel hooks can also rotate freely under load. They can prevent the twisting of rigging. As you can see, eye swivels can be used for the same lifting and rigging operations as eye bolts. However, you can

Advantages

  • The mobile lifting point offers 360° movements.
  • Eve swivels are suitable for angular lifts.
  • You can also use eye swivel rings for side mounting.
  • The largest available hoist rings are around 250,000 lbs.

Disadvantages

  • Eye swivels have more moving parts, making them costlier than eye bolts.
  • It’s a little more complicated to learn to use swivels as they have moving parts.

3. Ring Bolt vs Eye Bolt: Which One Is Better?

Now that you know what an eye bolt and swivel are, let’s talk about ring bolt vs eye bolt.

There are a few things you should keep in mind.

  • Both eye bolts and swivels are equally essential and common rigging hardware.
  • Eye bolts are probably the simplest rigging hardware. They are easy to use.
  • However, you can’t use eye bolts for angular lifts. If you do, you will have to consider a reduction in rated load, which may not always be a viable alternative.
  • On the other hand, eye swivels offer 360° movements. As a result, eye swivels provide more flexibility than eye bolts. They are also best suited for angular lifts. You can use eye swivel hooks for more applications compared to eye bolts.

In other words, there is no question of “ring bolt vs eye bolt.” Each rigging hardware comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. When getting your industrial hardware supply, just choose a bolt based on your application. That’s the only way to ensure you end up with rigging hardware suitable for the job.

Conclusion

When getting your industrial hardware supply, you will come across eye bolts and eye swivels. And you will need to understand the difference between the two to make a well-informed purchase. If you choose the wrong bolt, you could risk damaging your load and injuring your crew. Hopefully, this post will help you understand what these two types of bolts are, their advantages and drawbacks, and which one is a better choice.

If you are looking for a reliable industrial hardware supply, look no further than Elite Sales. We stock and distribute all types of rigging and lifting hardware. Get in touch with us to know the details.

 

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Sunil Yadav