Michael B Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 This may be of no significance, but it surprised me! My 2011 RT got all of its 6K maintenances at the purchasing dealer. One week after my 30k, they closed. So with the nearest dealer far away, that meant the 36k was on me. So just days ago I did the full 36k maintenance myself. And I got a surprise! I've heard plenty of horror stories about over tightening bolts on aluminum BMW bike parts, and their resulting expensive fixes, so I very carefully determined all mn torque values for the whole job, and purchased a new high quality torque wrench before starting. When I began loosening necessary drain and filler plugs, valve cover bolts, spark plugs, etc., I could feel a great difference between the tightness each was versus the correct torque values they should have been. On a couple, I'm surprised they weren't stripped. Now, I understand that professional bike mechanics have to get each job done in a timely manner, but I would also think that of all people, they would properly replace bolts to their proper torque values. Needless to say, every bolt I put back was torqued correctly, which gives me some satisfaction. Since nothing was stripped, it's no big deal…but could have been. Just food for thought. Link to comment
dirtrider Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Afternoon Michael Those bolts may very well have been over-tightened but you need to keep in mind that the break-loose torque on most fasteners is well above the original tightening torque value. Link to comment
Guest Kakugo Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Don't tell me... Friday evening I set about changing one of the blades on my Zenoah (Red Max) hedge trimmer. A 20 minutes job at most under normal circumstances. It turned into almost two hours because two of the bolts holding the blades to the bloc had been overtorqued at the factory. Steel bolts on aluminum... never a good idea to overtorque. And this is a very high end, made in Japan machine I bought brand new five years ago. Link to comment
mwood7800 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Torque wrenches are for head bolts, or newbies. Link to comment
Clive Liddell Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Ha ha, I must be a newby then... Apart from nearly 60 years of self servicing and DIY repair of bikes and cars I have kept my two Oilheads running 'like new' for well over 200000km. My present 24 year old Mercedes with 260000km also runs as new. BTW I use one of my range of torque wrenches for virtually EVERY fastener - well, maybe not the Tupperware securing screws :>) Oh, and an angle torqueing device is needed in addition to your torque wrench on our bikes... Link to comment
lkraus Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Oh, and an angle torqueing device is needed in addition to your torque wrench on our bikes... I've not yet encountered any fasteners on my BMW that have an angle spec. What do I need to replace so I can justify the purchase of another tool? Link to comment
Clive Liddell Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Hi Larry, The only angle torques I know of on Oilheads are: Cylinder Head Nuts Big End Caps Clutch Housing Regards Link to comment
DiggerJim Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I've not yet encountered any fasteners on my BMW that have an angle spec. What do I need to replace so I can justify the purchase of another tool? Do your clutch. Then go try to find the freakin tool. Then make your own. Put the bike back together. Then walk into your local Advance Auto store and notice the tool on their shelves where it wasn't there when you went looking (in person & online) before. Link to comment
racer7 Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 A torque wrench is definitely a requirement for critical fasteners- head bolts, some driveline bits, and the like. But for many things its overkill IF you have a feel for what you're doing- which varies by person. Torque values required are best determined from bolt stretch and in fact if you could always measure that, you could substitute it for most purposes. A simple test for your feel is whether you can feel a new crush washer properly collapse in place when you tighten a drain plug. Should be easy. If you miss that simple one, better get used to relying on measuring devices. As important as torque is knowing the proper technique, when and when not to lube and with what, differences between metals, etc. Screwups there ensure big inaccuracy and maybe stripped parts. An amusing mistake sometimes committed by track newbies on cages is re torquing wheel bolts after they come off track while the wheels are hot. If you dial in 80 lb-ft when a wheel is hot, it might be 500 lb-ft when cold and will surely take shearing the bolt to get the wheel off. Is your breaker bar good enough to handle a 5 ft pipe addition without breaking so you can get the leverage to shear the bolt off? Link to comment
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