Everyone check bottom yoke pinch bolts!!

[RogerJ]

Mine loose too. Newest 12GS has 1200 kms. Torque of these bolts was down to 20 and 21 NM. Topmost bolts loosest. And those were lovingly done break-in kms too. Now are back to 24 NM.

 

[HMR]

My reference to 'walking' above may be the issue.

What I mean by this is that if the insides of the yoke 'slot', where they bear against the stantion, are not at all chamfered then tightening the clamp bolts may just dig the edges into the stantion and draw the clamp together effectively pivoting around these edges that dig in.

Then with time and movement to sharp edges 'walk' around the stantion and effectively make the clamp loosen.

Fits with my observation. Milage now is 30000 Km. After retorqing the bolts twice they are no longer coming loose.

 

[rowbo99]

Yoke Pinch Bolts

Just checked mine - 4,800 miles.

Bottom 2 fine
Top 2 18Nm - Now 25Nm

As an engineer I feel this is a definate problem because of the potential accident if not rectified - BMW should take note. I will be raising this issue with CW's when I'm in for my 6k service.

 

[Dinger]

Just checked, top two finger tight, bottom two not too tight so I whipped it round to the Astle's (Grimsby) and they torqued them up.

 

[Phil Clarke]

Checked mine this morning prior to taking bike for 600 mile service. All 4 needed between 1/8th to 1/4 turn to tighten. Gonna loctite them this eve.

Phil

 

[Wraithwrider]

I checked mine yesterday after torquing them up a good couple of months back.

One pair had slackened off a very small amount (1/8 th of a turn) and the other pair were fine.

Peter

 

[Shep]

Hi all

I see a few people are considering loctiting the bolts in place, i'm not sure I see the sense in this, as it is unlikley to be the bolt coming loose, more likley is that the bracket is moving slightly, causing the bolt to loosen. Glueing the bolt in place will not stop the bracket moving, but it will prevent you from checking the tightness of the fixings (without removing the bolt, cleaning off the loctite, then re tightening)

You just have to do what most off road riders/racers do, and check as many fixings as possible, whenever possible.

Anyway, the chances are that the bracket/bolts will settle down after a couple of checks.

Regards Shep

 

[Pukmeister]

I loctited mine, and added some paint marks to show if they are slackening off.

So far, so good despite a good hammering over the trails of Salisbury plain.....

I am reluctant to just keep tightening them up, and would rather prevent them from slackening in the first place.

 

[Phil Clarke]

May go for spring washer option. Doesn't stop you checking the torque and prevented many bolts falling off my Triumph.

 

[Engineer]

Checked mine this morning prior to taking bike for 600 mile service. All 4 needed between 1/8th to 1/4 turn to tighten. Gonna loctite them this eve.

Phil

Is loctite a good idea? Are the bolts actually loosening by rotation or is the fork clamp losing some of it's 'springiness' - if it is the clamp 'relaxing' then loctiting the bolt will give a false sense of security.

 

[Gog yn y De]

After a failed attempt at fitting a Givi rack then applying ACF-50 all over the bike (garage smells nice now), I checked the pinch nuts - all were slack. I think the bottom ones could be tightened by 1/4 to 1/2 a turn while I was able to give the top ones a full turn - shocking

 

[GAG]

Yep mine were loose 90-180 degees to tighten to torque spec

 

[Alcat]

Yoke bolts

Checked my GS12 today, 8,000 miles and all pinch bolts loose, top finger tight, bottom not much tighter. My bike had its 6,000 mile service three months ago...

 

[Fanum]

Hmmm.....

I reckon it's about time we tried to quantify this thing properly, don't you???

If a newb comes along and reads this, they'll think the 1200 is crap, and that may not be fair.....

On the other hand, if a large proportion of those who have checked have found that these bolts are loose, then a) BWM (who do read this) need to know about it and b) It'll be usefull to know roughly what proportion of 12's have this problem to support claims or make them do something about it.

I'm gonna start a poll.....linky coming up Leddies an Gennelmen.....

 

[North]

Well, I checked mine, and 3 where maybe a 1/8 of turn and 1 was a 1/4 turn.



North

 

[SQD8R]

Checked mine over the weekend. No play in any. Am I the only one?

 

[Marty Hill]

Not the best of news.

Re-torqued mine last month. 4 were 1/2 turn loose. Just returned from a 5500 mile trip and found all 4 about 1/8 turn loose. So a recheck seems to be in order every few thousand miles.

Cheers,

 

[JAC]

Having visited Halfords this morning in order to acquire the necessary Torx set, I have now checked my 450 mile GS1200 to find the top two quite loose and the bottom two less so. Not sure how loose as I slackened them off slightly so that I could torque them up properly - took no effort to loosen though, so they could not have been properly tight.

 

[redtaco98]

Mine needed a quarter to half turn when I torqued them up. Mine has 14k km on the odo. The spring washer option sound like a good idea...

Jim in Rockland
(near Ottawa, Canada)

 

['Ol Headbanger]

Just checked mine. 3 months old GS12, 3k miles. Top two needed about eighth of a turn, bottom ones OK.