Everyone check bottom yoke pinch bolts!!

[bodisback]

it's not a joke.

bolts came loose a couple of times after i did them up with a torque wrench, a couple would be finger tight. can't keep doing that i thought...

i torqued up the bolts and marked them. tested again 1000 miles later & they were loose, but the marks showed the bolts had not rotated. for this reason, i can't see how loctite would help.

don't know the explanation, but i can tell you what i've done about it.

1) got wunderlich hard part which mounts on those same screws. don't imagine it made much difference to the problem, but i did it at the same time & so might have some bearing.

2) radical one this, i admit: i chucked away the torque wrench.

doing bolt up to set stage with the torque wrench inevitable loosened the previous one. even doing it in many stages had this effect so i did it by (experienced) hand, it gives a much smoother tightening operation. i didn't do them terribly tight, just what seemed right.

never loosened since in 3000+ miles. coincidently, i checked it this morning, it was fine

how long can this thread last, you would think by now bmw would have sorted the problem.

 

[cookie]

how long can this thread last, you would think by now bmw would have sorted the problem.

mine are still tight

 

[John Armstrong]

mine are still tight

Mine too, straight from the dealer, and ever since

 

[Barleymo]

Just checked mine and they were all short, so locktighted and torqued now.

 

[davedyer]

Just checked mine and they were all short, so locktighted and torqued now.

What? At 2 o'clock in the morning! What time do you service it?

 

[Barleymo]

well lets see, its 00:46 now, so about now i guess. lol

 

[st247]

Just a bit of a bump. Straightening my twisted forks (05 bike) after the Ryedale rally today and found two pinch bolts very loose.

 

[Luddfooter]

Can say this now since i've sold the BM and moved onto pastures new....ehem....KTM 990 Supermoto in black...sexy as chuff!!
I started this thread a while back now!! BMW fixed my severly damaged bike following front end collapse and failure for free some £4500 worth
BMW would not admit to anything but the bike was inspected by top BM bods and the damaged parts taken away never to be seen again........very suspicious IMHO!!! At the time i was just glad to get my bike sorted but looking back an explanation to why the bike chucked me down the road and nearly killed me would have been nice
I think it was a mixture of said loose pinch bolts and/0r a casting fault to the bottom yoke.......two engineers inspected my bike and both agreed it was an inherant mechanical failure of the bottom yoke that caused me to lose control of the front end
The fact the brake fluid runs in the yoke means any casting problem could lead to weakening of the yoke according to the engineers reports....
Luckily it didn't get as far as using their reports because fairplay to BM they agreed to sort it long before that plan of action was needed....
All food for thought though......

 

[streaky]

Can say this now since i've sold the BM and moved onto pastures new....ehem....KTM 990 Supermoto in black...sexy as chuff!!
I started this thread a while back now!! BMW fixed my severly damaged bike following front end collapse and failure for free some £4500 worth
BMW would not admit to anything but the bike was inspected by top BM bods and the damaged parts taken away never to be seen again........very suspicious IMHO!!! At the time i was just glad to get my bike sorted but looking back an explanation to why the bike chucked me down the road and nearly killed me would have been nice
I think it was a mixture of said loose pinch bolts and/0r a casting fault to the bottom yoke.......two engineers inspected my bike and both agreed it was an inherant mechanical failure of the bottom yoke that caused me to lose control of the front end
The fact the brake fluid runs in the yoke means any casting problem could lead to weakening of the yoke according to the engineers reports....
Luckily it didn't get as far as using their reports because fairplay to BM they agreed to sort it long before that plan of action was needed....
All food for thought though......

scary storyat least your ok and got sorted,Is that why you changed to a KTM?

 

[spock]

only now caught up with this,mine were way,way loose.
My bike is a 2005,just on 24k,what should I get ready for next then......

 

[Luddfooter]

scary storyat least your ok and got sorted,Is that why you changed to a KTM?

Yep one of the reasons, my bike was only 3 months old when it chucked me down the road
got to say i had fancied the KTM 950 but it hadn't been realesed at the time i bought the BM so i couldn't directly compare the two bikes.....however the BM was very nearly swapped for the KTM as soon as BM returned to me.....but i just had to give it another go......
Other concerns with the KTM at the time was a lack of practicality compared to the BM (small tank, hard seat, no screen).
However i am pleased to say all those items have been addressed now making the bike perfect for my requirements....got to say i never carry a pillion don't tour really and prefer blatting around in the Yorkshire Dale's mixed with a bit of commuting......for this the KTM absolutely rocks.......the other bonus with the new model is the utterly gorgeous updated fuel injected 999 cc engine now in the KTM. I love V Twins and this one is by far the best one i have tried!!
Makes the GS feel very sluggish
I never really got on with the Telelever's lack of front end feel, not sure if my bike was twisted, i got BM mechanic to test ride and he said it was ok.....so maybe just me not climatising to the front end feel. The KTM on the other hand offers bags of feel with upside down long travel 48 mm WP forks
I tried a mates KTM Adventure back to back with the GS last year and again much preferred the front end feel although i tried not to admit it at the time
Anyhow its been a pleasure been a part of this forum over the last 3 years And BMW did put the bike back to showroom condition not sure other manufacturers would have done!!

 

[Navigator]

I JUST CHECKED MINE AND 2 WERE LOOSE. scary

 

[cookie]

since i started doing mine up by hand, they've never come loose again.


and no, i haven't overtightened them.

if you do them up with a torque wrench tightening the second bolt loosens the first, which if you go back and tighten again, will loosen the second etc.

doing it by hand is much more even and avoids the problem. that's my theory anyway

 

[madmax]

Checked mine and 3 out of the 4 were on the slack side, all tightened up now, should they not have been lock tighted?
Think this weekend will be spent checking around the whole bike.

 

[cookie]

loctiting doesn't help.

i tried that first

 

[Running Bear]

Checked mine and all tight, I was going to locktite them but found it was already done with a blue thread liquid, so must have been done at the factory I presume. Bike is a GSA, April 08

Tony

 

[drifter]

Last minute tweaks befor Tipperary, all four loose, scarey stuff. My torque wrench lowest setting is 28NM so being afraid of overtightening hand tight with ratchet will I hope do the trick and keep me safe. I had only tightened them a few months ago, need to keep ahead of this, cheers,

 

[Brian Shepherd]

Mine was worse than that, there were too tight. I managed to get one out of each side OK, cleaned them up and put them back in but then one of the others was tight and brought out some metal with it but the last one snapped off at the head ! I have been quoted £160 for a second hand yoke but I'm going to try and drill out the broken bold with a carbide tipped drill first.

Word of warning, if like me you use copper slip or any other lubricant on the bolt, do NOT fasten to the rated torque settings as you will tighten the threads beyond their limits. It is better to tighten them by hand and keep a regular check on them, its even worth just marking the heads (dab of white paint) to the bracket so that you can see if they have moved.