Quote:
Originally Posted by jfman
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".
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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?
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