If you dont trust your mechanics hands and you fear stripping bolts as you tighten them or maybe you fear they are too loose after you are done.

Well there is a good way to learn to developp your mechanics hand without any fear of messing up your prized motorcycle.

What you do is you bring your tools and a torque wrench also to a "u-pull it" type junkyard of your choice. Then you practice on any car you like.

I encourage you to overtighten and strip bolts on purpose so you will see what it feels like.

Also bring the torque spec sheets from a commonly seen car you know will be there and test your hands using the toque wrench only to verify if you went too far or not enough.

My last tip is this one. Any small bolt head that is 8mm or 10mm, do not tighten them using the end of the handle of a ratchet. Grab the ratchet at or near the head(the clickety part). You greately reduce the risk of stripping out a small fastener this way.

Never forget that the longer a wrench or a ratchet is, the same effort you apply on this longer wrench translates to more torque. Torque is no the same thing as "effort".

For example in my car I carry a very long(30 inch) breaker bar for lug nuts. When I tighten the nuts, I grab the bar not at the end, I grab it at the halfway point so I can "feel" the torque better and not overtighten the lug nuts.

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Alaska 2014: Hotel Budget ZeroXmas in Death Valley, New Year in Urique

I'll mention one thing that I don't do. I don't tighten up small bolts - say 6mm (probably the commonest size on most bikes) thread - with big ratchets (1/2" drive size). That's a sure fire way of stripping them. I have sets of the three common drive size sockets - 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" and I use them selectively. So smaller bolt = smaller drive size socket. I also have three torque wrenches - one for each size - because in my experience they're more accurate in the middle part of their range (maybe not Ted's hyper expensive professional ones, but I can only justify consumer grade ones). So tightening a 5mm thread bolt with a 1/2" drive torque wrench right at the bottom of its range is a no-no.

So if you're going to take one on a trip which size wrench is it going to be? 3/8" as the most widely useful? Are you going to do up your spindle nuts with that? From memory mine only goes up to around 70nm. Can you even get 28mm (or whatever size the spindle nut is) 3/8" drive sockets or is it going to have to be cobbled together with 1/2" drive socket and a converter?

It's not really necessary to do everything with ratcheting socket wrenches on the road. In my shop at home I've got all sorts of wrenches--different drive sizes, different lengths of handle, different depths for sockets, flexible heads of various sorts, metric and imperial of everything, whole racks of extensions...

But on the road, simple stamped-out combination spanners work fine for most stuff, including those big axle bolts. Throw in a select few 1/4 sockets, a (small) handful of forged combination wrenches, and a pair of vice grips and you've got more than you'll likely need for years on end.

I'm not splitting cases, changing valve shims, or (in the case of my KLRs) replacing balancer mechanisms on the road. When I've had to change front sprockets enroute--very rarely, in my experience--I've had to find someone with a breaker bar or an impact wrench. That's a pretty good tradeoff in my book.

I've never wanted a torque wrench on the road. Yes, I cringe every time I tighten the drain bolt after changing my oil, but I don't torque that at home either--just a hair past "it's stopped dripping" has served me well.

Having been a dealer and mechanic, I've seen far too many stripped drains and generally stripped bolts. BMW airheads are known for stripping the cylinder bolts out of the crankcase - a massively difficult repair to do right for reasons I won't go into here, it's well documented. Stripped drains can be really difficult to repair too, even requiring replacing crankcases occasionally.

There IS a fix - one, a torque wrench.

OR two, safety wire everything. All my critical bolts, especially drains, on all my bikes, are drilled for safety wire. Overkill? You won't think so when that - just a smidge more - suddenly becomes really easy. I always replace the crush washer, tighten till nicely crushed, then wire it. And no worrying.
UNDER torquing could result in an experience a friend had when his drain fell out of his BMW on a dirt road. Luckily I was following and spotted the black strip quickly, caught up and stopped him. Fork oil and a little transmission oil got him to a service station. It could have been ugly.

BTW - for the BMW airhead cylinder head torques - a couple pounds UNDER specified torque is relatively safe.
And finally, remember torque specs are generally for DRY threads, not well lubed ones. It's really easy to over-torque lubed threads, especially on smaller bolts. DAMHIK.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I can think of a few bolts that likely will come off during a long trip, where torque is important, and where the probability of me getting it wrong is not entirely improbable (with serious ramifications):

Oil drain, calipers, spark plugs...

I think I will start carrying at least one or two torque adapters (in place of a large, heavy and expensive torque wrench). They are not too big/heavy, and not too expensive, and they are supposedly highly accurate (unless you buy cheap crap). They are not supposed to be used in place of a torque wrench though - but in combination with "feel" it should be far better than not having a torque wrench at all.

Grant's idea of wiring the drain plug seems like a very good idea. I have also seen someone loose their drain plug once - it was game over.

On important bolts, or bolts that have a tendency to unscrew themselves, I will usually use a permanent marker on the bolt head to mark its position. That way I can on my routine checks easily see if it has turned, without bringing out my tools. If I have to set a new mark (after removing and refatsening), the old mark comes off easily with spirits.

Drilling a small hole in the head of the bolt seems easy enough. Not sure how and where to attach the wire to the crank case though - so that there is little to no play for the bolt to unscrew itself. Any suggestions? Weld or glue something to the crank case to fasten the wire to?

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The most commonly stripped threads I have found are the M6 bolts holding the oil filter cover on many bikes. 10 - 13 Nm (depending on Honda, Yamaha or other engineer's specs) It's not much. A 1/4 drive torque wrench in that range is not that big, and if you're not too confident of the calibration of your wrist, might save some woes. For larger stuff, the margin for error is greater and I think a large tw less necessary. The suggestion of different length levers for different torques is a good one.

There's always something to use I've found. I've drilled fins in the sump or nearby, drilled another unrelated bolt just to use as an anchor, wired around a frame rail, whatever - there's always something.

Tips: .032" diameter stainless wire is cheap and readily available and is the standard wire for safety wiring by airplane and race mechanics. It's also useful if something breaks and you need to attach x to y, as it's very strong. I carry a 10 ft length wound tight around a couple of fingers, (I do remember to remove my fingers ) and that's plenty for a long time. Made it RTW with about double that, and my R80G/S had 5 plugs and an oil filter three-bolt-cover to wire!



In the above image you can see the wire from one of the body assembly screws, and the hole for the wire for the oil cooler hose bolt on my R80G/S.


Above is the ground cable / transmission vent safety wiring - just goes around the cable


above - Motor mount bolt wiring around the frame.


Above - Gear shift lever- on left - safety wiring an allen screw, and on right, the transmission fill plug.
It was leaking badly from the pushrod tubes when this was taken!

You can drill all the way straight though - dead easy - or as in the fill plug above I went through from the top then from the outside, or through a corner, all depends on what you're trying to do. Also on the fill plug you can see I drilled a hole in a fin to anchor to.

Hopefully that will give you some ideas.

An inexpensive safety wiring jig below makes drilling the holes a lot easier, though I've always done mine by hand - and wished I had one of these!

And if you want to go whole hog, safety wire pliers (this is mine, over 50 years old and working great


How to safety wire

Finally, we also want to use Loctite where appropriate, and nylock nuts are great, I use them everywhere possible, and Nord-Lock washers are a newer technology, and excellent, well worth checking out.

Here's some links for tools - using my affiliate link, I'll make a few pennies: Thanks!

Safety wire pliers
Amazon.com - Amazon.ca - Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.de

Drilling jig
Good one:
Amazon.com - Amazon.ca - Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.de
Inexpensive one:
Amazon.com - Amazon.ca - couldn't find on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.de - let me know if you do and I'll add it here.

Safety wire:
Amazon.com - Amazon.ca - Amazon.co.uk - couldn't find on Amazon.de - let me know if you do and I'll add it here.

Nord-lock:
Amazon.com - Amazon.ca - Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.de

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I'm going to ruin everyone's torque wrench party now.

Did you know that many modern bikes use single use stretch bolts.

Especially Rotax engined BMW's, KTMS etc. And they're used a lot of performance and race bikes because they're REALLY lightweight.

You tighten to THEIR specified Torque (Usually about 4nm for an M6 which is half of what it is on a standard steel bolt), and then you turn it another 90 degrees going around the case or component and then you tighten another 90 degrees.

And if they've been removed and not replaced by a previous mechanic then you are in a lost world where no torque wrench will save you.

I've been re-using them for years now. I give my customers the choice but as it's way too expensive to keep replacing them, I just do it by feel. But I wince with every turn. I've only snapped one or two in the last ten years so I think I've got it pinned.



Then there is Torque adjustment for lubricant and thread locking. And all torque is measured for CLEAN, new bolt. Corroded bolts need a lot less torque too.

And if you've changed any bolts to stainless or to hi-ten, then this changes the torque also.

Maybe Grants wire locking isn't as "OTT" as I was first tempted to call it

If you bring a Torque wrench then you're going to need all the documentation and paranoia that goes with using one.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Lockwire is a very useful thing to take. I've held my exhaust system together with it in the past and it's currently holding the two halves of the suspension height sensor together on my Land Rover while I wait for a new one to arrive.

What's the purpose of the one shot bolts? Is it just to stop people 'fiddling', a kind of 'no user serviceable parts inside' warning, or is there some sound engineering reason why they're a more sensible choice than regular bolts.

Grant - this was very useful and inspiring! I have not added safety wire on any of my bikes - but will from now on!
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Touring Ted - I am aware of the issues regarding; stretch in bolts, rust, grease, etc. As far as I know, the non-reusable bolts you refer to (that at the same time are critical), are not only limited in numbers on the bike, but most also come off very seldom. On a single cylinder thumper built for touring - the cylinder head once every 50.000,- kms??? And this I can plan for, and could probably afford new bolts also.

Still, even when reusing bolts for the cylinder head where calculating the correct torque in particular instances can be virtually impossible - where there are more than one bolt in a pattern (i.e. pretty much any component with a gasket... cylinder heads, crank case, etc) it is probably more important aiming for the same torque on all identical bolts on a part rather than aiming for the correct torque. You might not get the proper torque with the torque wrench in these cases, but you will get all the identical bolts fastened to the same torque - ensuring a flush and tight fit with even force across the component.

So again, the combination of hand feel, and the torque wrench for reference, is still a good idea to me - regardless of the condition of the used bolt.

As for greased bolts where you are supposed to have dry ones, subtracting +/- 20% to the torque setting should compensate for much of the unknown? As for rusted bolts, you would go the opposite way - tightening harder. When I do major work on my bike I usually clean my bolts with brake cleaner, brushes and rags anyways - which reduces the issue. If the bolts are rusted or badly worn, I change them - usually to rust free, where I can use a nylon nut. Popular mechanics has a good article on these topics for noobs: https://www.popularmechanics.com/car...ount-of-force/

I still believe that a torque adapter on the road, regardless if we are talking old or new bolts, or rust free for that matter - that it is the safer way to go... at least for someone like me who doesn't turn a wrench in my profession. I only occasionally turn a wrench - when my own vehicles require it - which doesn't happen every week. The torque wrench is also instrumental to calibrate my own hands a bit better.

As for having the torque references on hand - it is very quickly looked up - at least in the T7 manual. Further, one could also mark them directly on the bike, next to the fastener if one really could be bothered to do such prep work.


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@Backofbeyond. All bolts stretch to some extent, and for every use they loose some of this stretchiness. Think of it like an elastic that helps keep the fasteners and parts securely in its place. In part it has a similar effect as a lock washer or a spring put between the part and the end of the bolt head or nut.

Where the lock washer or spring provides elastic or spring forces only across a short length of the fastener, an elastic bolt helps distribute these forces evenly across the entire length of the fastener, as well as across the length of the threads - keeping it all tight and secure.

Further, elastic bolts have more "give". By being less brittle they don't snap or fail from fatigue as easily either. For shorter fasteners this stretch has less of an effect simply because there is less stretch - thereby it comes loose more easily. On a long bolt the bolt in itself acts almost like a lock washer or spring. This is one reason why using lock washers, loctite and/or nylon nuts becomes more important on short fasteners than on long ones - especially if the fastener is hard (i.e. rust free).

Cylinder head bolts for example are very long and skinny - they go all the way through the length of the cylinder head and way down into the crank case. They are not short and fat - for the reasons mentioned above. The fasteners holding your luggage rack on the other hand - here you want locktite, lock washers and/or nylon bolts.

On cylinder heads - uneven or refastening old bolts with too little torque can lead to big problems that safety wire can't prevent. Tighten too hard is not good either. And, if you tighten to the point that they snap, you can be in a world of agony.

On bolts such as on your oil drain plug, being a little soft and sweet on the torqueing, at the expense of risking it coming undone down the road - is far better than tightening to the point were snapped bolts or stripped threads is probable ("just to make sure" that it doesn't come undone)... that is of course only true if you use a safety wire like Grant does. If you don't use such a wire, then tightening to the point where you are confident it won't come undone (with the risk os snapping or stripping), is the better choice on this particular bolt (because if the oil in your crank gase is gone, it is game over). Therefore - safety wire is a really good idea on the oil drain plug, and several others!

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Blog: www.bamakobyvespa.no
My Youtube Channel

A couple of examples of why to safety wire or use a torque wrench at least:

A long discussion of this one on the HUBB here. Lots of fixes suggested!


and a plaintive - "can I just weld this up?" on a DRZ400:

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Totally agree, me too

__________________
http://www.tenere.co.uk

__________________
Alaska 2014: Hotel Budget ZeroXmas in Death Valley, New Year in Urique

motor bikes are full of nuts + bolts

I deal with stripped threads almost daily as I work on a lot of older bikes.

What I have found is that those replacement stainless steel sump bolts that people who are obsessed with blinging their bike with, are often a curse.

They are very unforgiving with aluminium sumps. A sump plug should be mild steel. Stainless doesn't really belong in any aluminum thread unless it's very low torque. It's much harder, sharper and because they usually come from Chinese sweat shops, the manufacturing processes aren't great either.

If I think back, probably 90% of stripped sumps I've had to repair have been fitted with Stainless steel sump bolts.

Although this could also be down to the fact that those bikes which have stainless plugs have been "over-tampered" with by owners with more enthusiasm than skill.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.