Re: Drain Bolts one more time

["David E.B. Smith" <davidebsmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 4/11/04 10:30 AM, Tom Brown wrote:

> I am not, by the way, the guy who said that the threads would be stripped if
> the factory specs were followed.  That was another guy with a Japanese bike.
> I've seen some pretty soft bolts on some of them, so maybe he has a point
> there...not my point, however.

The original F650s were notorious for stripping out the drain plugs if 
torqued to the factory spec (40 Nm, IIRC). The torque spec is high and 
the oil pan is thin with only a couple of threads in it. F650 owners 
either (a) learned to feel the crush washer crushing and stop tightening 
there or (b) got to install the oil drain plug thread repair kit that 
BMW had to come up with. (Since the F650 was an Aprilia design, you can 
blame the Italan engineeers, not the German engineers, for that one).


> As to the guy who took assembled his brake caliper using factory torque
> specs and stripped the alan bolts, I'm guessing he either had worn out allen
> wrenches or the bolts were actually star or torx bolts instead of Allan
> bolts.
> 

I've been going through my bike replacing all the bolts with 6mm hex 
drives (like the front fork clamp bolts and rear drive fill plug) 
because they're all rounded from using a cheap-a** Chinese-made hex 
socket from Pep Boys. Lesson learned: if there's anyplace you should 
want to spring for good tools, this is it.


- -- 
David E.B. Smith * Chicago IL 393 455 * BMWMOA BMWRA IBA AMA ABATE
1997 R1100RT Sine(us) Blue "No name" * Illinois IBMWR plate * 01, 03 IBR
1999 F650 Black (hers - no, really)
1999 Subaru Forester S "also a Boxer"
http://www.davidebsmith.org

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