Torque those bolts fellas

I was heading over to my friends house and was slowing down for a light when I heard a loud Booooooooooooong sound. It sounded like it was staying right with me, not like a horn fading in the distance. It alarmed me so I instively started feathering the front brake. I got near stopping for a light and noticed a very odd feel at the brake. I got stopped fully and noticed a burning rubber smell. I thought I had a flat since it was hard to move the bike forward after that. I rocked the bike back, then forward again, no more resistance to rolling forward. I thought okay, that was weird.

I hopped off and looked around and there on the ground behind my front wheel was my friggin horn!! Seems I didn't torque down the bracket's screws when reinstalling the horn after some steering bearing maintenance. I rolled around to a nearby parking lot to inspect and found scrapes in my front fender's paint, as well as the tire. The damage to the tire was minimal, not very deep at all. I picked up the horn and continued to my destination, very slowly that is. I'll be torquing all fasteners shortly. I hate to think what might've happened on the highway.

There's a long thread on the V-Strom forum started by a guy whose oil drain plug fell out about 800 miles after dealer service. Blew up his engine. Made me think, though, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a socket on that bolt and make sure it's snug every now and then.

[image: View Post]milesbandit, on 09 September 2010 - 12:10 AM, said:

There's a long thread on the V-Strom forum started by a guy whose oil drain plug fell out about 800 miles after dealer service. Blew up his engine. Made me think, though, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a socket on that bolt and make sure it's snug every now and then.


I recently stopped at a friend's house after 45 minutes of hard back roads riding. Checked the bike over quickly and saw the rear caliper stay was hanging, held on only by the braided steel brake line and gently rubbing the rear tire. Of the two bolts holding the rear caliper on, the sliding pin bolt was gone, and the rear-most bolt mounting the caliper to the mount was loose.

I know what happened. I'm dumb and lucky.

Gentlemen, I'm happy to repeat... torque those bolts.

[image: View Post]milesbandit, on 09 September 2010 - 12:10 AM, said:

There's a long thread on the V-Strom forum started by a guy whose oil drain plug fell out about 800 miles after dealer service. Blew up his engine. Made me think, though, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a socket on that bolt and make sure it's snug every now and then.


reason #1 why i do my own maintenance. i'd rather be mad at myself than have to fight with some stealorship to get things made right. if i had tire changing equipment, i'd change tires too.

had work done on my bike by a local shop when I was younger.

went to a party about 60 miles away...

almost there at 60 mph my front end just dropped...

after falling and skidding some distance, I realized that my front bolts were not only missing but gone entirely...

been doing my own work ever since...

I concur on the checking for torque on major appliances of your bike lol

Yep...went out and bought a torque wrench when I was replacing the fuel filter on my VFR and over torqued a couple of bolts holding the pump and had to have the tank drained and the new studs welded in to replace the ones that had broken off. :rolleyes:

[image: View Post]milesbandit, on 09 September 2010 - 12:10 AM, said:

There's a long thread on the V-Strom forum started by a guy whose oil drain plug fell out about 800 miles after dealer service. Blew up his engine. Made me think, though, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a socket on that bolt and make sure it's snug every now and then.

I had my drain plug fall out of my first bike (GS550ESF) in upstate NY while on my way to Montreal. I was flying along in the Adirondacks at about 80 mph when all my idiot lights came on. I was right at on off ramp so I dropped into a right hand turn to get off the highway. My rear tire was covered in oil (I didn't know it at the time), the back end stepped out on me 3 times as the oil scrubbed off and the tire re-gripped. I was right at the guard rail (actually cement posts with steel cable strung between them) preparing to bail when the bike held it's line and completed the turn. I braked to a stop and climbed off praying & shaking. There sat my smoking bike with the last few drops of oil staining the ground beneath it. I followed the trail of oil back about a mile hoping to find my drain plug. A fools errand at 7 AM in the mountains... as I walked back to my bike, still carrying all my gear that had previously been bungeed to the back... drenched in sweat from the July heat... on my birthday... I sat down in a bit of shade to rest. Up the road I could see a State Trooper on the other side waiting for speeders. He lit up his lights and came immediately to my aide... or so I thought. As he jumped out of his cruiser he was preparing to arrest me for vagrancy! When he heard my explanation he decided not to arrest me, but instead I convinced him to give me a ride off of "his" highway. When he saw my bike dripping oil off the fender he softened up and gave me a ride to the auto parts store.

Moral of the story... torque your bolts, but also change your crush washers! I had reused my old one so many times it had no crush left in it. That was the root cause of my drain plug failure.

Sorry for hijacking your thread... carry on.

P.S. I put another 40k miles on that motor after that incident without any issues. It took a distracted cager hitting me at a stop sign to take that bike out...

[image: View Post]Rush2112, on 09 September 2010 - 11:11 AM, said:

[image: View Post]milesbandit, on 09 September 2010 - 12:10 AM, said:

There's a long thread on the V-Strom forum started by a guy whose oil drain plug fell out about 800 miles after dealer service. Blew up his engine. Made me think, though, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a socket on that bolt and make sure it's snug every now and then.

I followed the trail of oil back about a mile hoping to find my drain plug. A fools errand at 7 AM in the mountains... as I walked back to my bike, still carrying all my gear that had previously been bungeed to the back... drenched in sweat from the July heat... on my birthday... I sat down in a bit of shade to rest. Up the road I could see a State Trooper on the other side waiting for speeders. He lit up his lights and came immediately to my aide... or so I thought. As he jumped out of his cruiser he was preparing to arrest me for vagrancy! When he heard my explanation he decided not to arrest me, but instead I convinced him to give me a ride off of "his" highway. When he saw my bike dripping oil off the fender he softened up and gave me a ride to the auto parts store.

P.S. I put another 40k miles on that motor after that incident without any issues. It took a distracted cager hitting me at a stop sign to take that bike out... :mellow:


^^^ sorry I LOL on that beginning part ^^^ and cried at the end... geesh...

Boy, how true, how true. My wife once asked me, why do you fix all this stuff yourself? My answer: So, I'll know it was done correctly. Quick story...

I did the 6k tune up on my brother's Kawi ZR7. Stripped it down, tested this and that, replaced this and that. The only thing I couldn't do was get the correct shims for two of the out of spec valves. (Only two of the 16 were tight. Also, I'd have to buy a kit and it would never get used again, but I digress.) I called a local shop and asked them their price. Long story short, I convinced them I'd bring it in stripped down but startable and all they need to do was fix those two valves.

I picked up the bike, put it all together and fired her up. Music, sweet, sweet music (it sounded and ran like crap before). I called my brother and instead of saying hello, I put the ear piece by the exhaust and revved it. He was ecstatic and couldn't wait to ride it.

He rode it and rode it. Happy, happy, happy. Then it started knocking. He calls me up and tells me there's something wrong. (We live 3 hours apart.). So he let's the bike sit for a few weeks until I can get down there. He fires it up and says, "Hear that engine knock?" How could you not! But, I said, that doesn't sound like any valve knock I've ever heard, sounds more like an exhaust leak. Sure nuff. None of the flanges on the header had been tightened down and two of the eight acorn nuts were missing (I did no work on the exhaust system) and I have no idea why the shop removed the header for a valve adjustment.

My sister-in-law had a Yammie RD350 back in the day and she asked me to take a look at it because it had a high-speed wobble.

I started at the front and worked my way to the rear, checking all the usual suspects and sure enough, the rear axle nut was MISSING! Nothing holding the axle in but friction and luck.

Happily the local Yamaha shop had a castellated nut for a Warrior Quad which was exactly the same size as the RD's so we were in business right away (plus a new cotter pin, thank you very much).

Wow!! Quite a few horror stories in this thread! I'm gonna have to check all the important bolts soon since it will always be in the back of my mind from now on. I also need a good torque wrench!! Maybe Harbour Freight?
C

I was once riding a friend's bike when the front brake caliper came off. Fortunately I was not going very fast when I tried to apply the brake and found no resistance at the lever, so I was able to stop with just the rear. He had done a caliper rebuild and failed to tighten the caliper mounting bolts properly. The caliper was left dangling by the hydraulic hose.

Since then whenever I have the brake calipers off, I not only torque them, I use plenty of blue loctite!

I use Torque Seal on most of the scary bolts that I mess with. One quick glance and I know its all good. A little habit from my previous life that I can't shake.