Bolt fear

[mylovelyhorse]

I attached a set of Hepco & Becker crash bars to my '99 GS at the weekend and as I was doing so, one bolt on each side worried me somewhat.

Each of the three bolts holding each bar on is rated in the Haynes manual as needing to be tightened to 47 Nm. The front bolt is into the front sub-frame strut. At 35 Nm it still tightens if I go on using the (substantial) torque wrench to do it up, but it already *feels* tight enough. Clearly if I was to strip a thread on either side at this juncture It Would Be Very Bad. I gave up tightening at 37 Nm as I was sore afeared of breaking things.

I expect everything will fall off the front of the bike at an inopportune moment & all will go pear-shaped. I'm not sure I shouldn't have ploughed on regardless but I'm damn sure I don't want a broken bolt or stripped thread and by gum it felt tight already.

Dunno. Thoughts?

 

[Spout]

Mark bolts/nuts with permanent marker pen/tippex/paint and monitor for a while.
(From someone who gave up using torque wrenches twenty years ago)

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

if it feels tight - it is

- use loctite if f you're worried

you don't need a torque wrench for non critical bolts

 

[davegs]

Talk wenches

Make sure that you've got it on the right setting. if it's one of the big old Britool ones where you push the drive bar through to change direction make sure its going the right way. I did this once wrong way and it's a solid breaker bar and it will!!. (I've done it!)
Dave gs.

 

[davedyer]

Did you lubricate or put Locktite on them before you tightened them? If you did, the reduction in friction this would cause will reduce the amount of torque needed for the same 'tightness'. By the same token, an ill fitting or rusty fastener would need more torque for the same 'tightness'.