Fixing The Wrecked Bolt Problem
 

My biggest frustration when working on my motorcycles is a wrecked bolt head cause due mainly due to my inexperience or haste or sometimes a combination of both. The other day when removing the float bowl of my Impulse’s carburetor I wrecked the head of one of the tiny screws and ended up spending a great deal of time and patience fixing the problem.

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So I decided to replace all commonly accessed bolts and screws with stainless steel Allen bolts. There are a few advantages to doing this. Firstly, they don’t corrode. I have yet to wreck the head of a stainless steel Allen bolt. I guess I could if I used the wrong size Allen key or used too much force. But if I slot the right Allen key deep inside the head I’m guessing it will be pretty difficult for me to wreck it.

Another advantage is that the size of my toolkit vastly reduces in the number of tools and their weight. Allen keys are light and small and are much easier to carry than a spanner set or a ratchet kit.

However, if you are doing this, you should take care not to tighten the Allen bolts too tight. Stainless steel is very strong and you could easily wreck the threading inside the cast iron or aluminium part that you are driving the bolt into.

Theoretically all bolts should be tightened to a specific torque. But very few people have the time and patience to sit with a torque wrench and the torque manual of their motorcycle. At least I don’t.

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I wouldn't worry about it - when the stainless bolt takes out all the threads on the float bowl Deelip'll be able to helicoil it back to standard and that'll fix the galvanic issue. If not he can always put in a longer bolt and screw a nut on the top. :rofl:

That's a joke by the way. I've used stainless allen bolts in similar circumstances for many years without any issues. Usually a bit of grease on the bolt threads and frequent strip downs trumps electrode potentials.

Correct. This is only for bolts that are frequently opened by me.

Just use titanium

ASSEMBLY LUBE / ANTI SEIZE ~ prevents so called "galling", the term used when two surfaces in contact seize up as a result of cold welding. The problem (also known as 'adhesive wear') is most commonly seen when tightening bolts made from materials such as stainless steel, aluminium or titanium.... 'nuff said...

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I wouldn't be swapping that hex flange bolt that looks like it's probably a shock mount or linkage bolt for the allen bolt shown in the picture. It's not of the same tensile strength and its not got the shank which acts like a dowel.

Those stainless hex bolts are probably A2 Stainless.

Their tensile strength is more than up to the task of holding a carb together.

The trick is to use copper slip. Or if you're confident everything is great and always going to be, a medium thread-lock. Both prevent corrosion.

Any antiseize will work ...unless it is the exhaust system that gets hot - then copper slip.
A thread lock ... umm as the problem described is getting the thing apart thread lock will work against that. So ... unless your loosing the bolt/screw then use the antisize.

Stainless bolts can also be had with a shoulder (shank, an unthreaded portion of the bolt/screw), usually purchasing a longer one will get a shoulder - cut the threaded porting as required.

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A very usefull tool for damaged Philips screw heads .. an impact screw driver - hit with a hammer this;
hits downwards on the screw thread - this can free the thread
hits downwards on the screw head - stops the screwdriver rising out of the head
a cam action inside the impact screwdriver takes some of the downwards force to apply an undoing torque to the screw

I often use a medium or light thread lock. As it sets, moisture ingress is inhibited. On a good fastener, correctly installed, it should never be a problem. All greases will eventually disapate.

I use copper slip on steel components usually as the copper particles can actually acceleration corrosion on some alloys. But again, we exist in the real world and in my extensive experience, ive never seen anything made worse with copper slip. And it's definitely better than using nothing. For high temperature, there's not much better for the price and ease of use.

For not torque critical components on bikes, A4 stainless is best. It's more expensive but the chromium content is higher and it resists corrosion for longer.

The high end anti-seize pastes are nice to have. They're also expensive so you can understand why most people dab a bit of copper slip here and there. It's generally harmless on all motorcycle applications and as someone who is always repairing older bikes, i really appreciate it when someone has put things together with copper slip in the past.

But of course, its a mild abrasive so should NEVER be used on moving parts such as bearings.

I don't like Crosshead screws on bikes. But they're very common. Probably because theyre very cheap and fast to work with in a factory. They also stop people over tightening things as they 'torque out'. On the bikes that I own or restore I generally replace everything I can with stainless Allen cap screws. They very easy to work with and are easy to remove if bodged. The only downside is that they're more pricy.

First and foremost though.. The condition of your threads is most critical. If you have a dirty, damaged and corroded thread then you're starting off in a bad situation.

If you like tinkering with bikes, a quality tap and die set or thread restoring kit should be in your toolbox. Clean threads make everything better :)

Find me on Facebook: MotoTed & MotoRevive.

Yeah they're fine for the carb.....It's the bigger bolt in the 2nd to last pic that isn't a float bowl screw, it's a 10.9 Flange Hex bolt with a wasted shank and the pic suggests it is being replaced with an A2 stainless allen bolt which isn't ideal, not as good as the original anyway.

That bolt goes in horizontally and connects the grab rail to the chassis. Not a lot of tensile forces in play there. Just shear forces.

So the clamp force and the dowel fit of the original will be better.

Copper slip is perfect for Bi metal problems the other two 1. use the correct tool for the job not all cross head screws are the same .
2 dont do these up to tight a carb screws need only a small amount of torque to hold the parts together .

follow the above and helicoils and Ezee outs won't be needed.

With stainless bolts into stainless fittings they can easily cold weld, using ordinary milk of magnesia can help prevent it.

Tip for inexpensive anti galling for SS bolts in high temp applications

Why the emphasis on stainless steel guys, the real point is to replace Phillips head screws with Allen head bolts - something I have done on all my Japanese bikes, since I bought the first one in 1972.