krazik

Not sure were you got that I was saying it's not doable. Obviously it is.

Just that it's 1) somewhat of a pain and 2) not (IMO) necessary.

slalom44

That bolt may not be necessary, but it does serve a purpose. Without that bolt, additional stress is put on the remaining bolt and the starter's flange. The flange would likely be the weakest link, since it has significantly lower strength than the bolt, and it undergoes a bending stress, not pure tension as does the remaining bolt.

The higher the stress on a metal, the more you fatigue it. The more cycles, the more you fatigue it. If the stress on the most fatigued section is above the fatigue limit of the metal (typically around half of the Ultimate Tensile Strength of the metal at that location), then the material will eventually develop a fatigue fracture. How soon it happens depends on all of the variables involved.

Also, the starter flange has some relatively sharp corners. These act as stress risers, which significantly increase the fatige in these locations when stress is applied to it. I don't know if much stress is applied to these areas, but one can assume that it wasn't designed to take those loads.

And don't forget that there are inclusions (defects) in virtually all metals which also act as stress risers. If some inclusions were of sufficient size and located in the right spot, the chances of having a failure increase dramatically.

Yes, you can probably get away with leaving the bolt off, but keep in mind that the probability is good that it will eventually bite somebody in the butt.

krazik