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Ensuring you re-torque every bolt


RobF

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I was installing an aftermarket shock. Near the end of the process, this required me to torque down five bolts/nuts:

 

    1 top bracket bolt (under the tank)
    3 linkage plate bolts ('A', 'B', & 'C' above)
    1 dogbone allen bolt (left of 'A' in diagram above)
    
Normally, my personal protocol for torque-assurance is: Never do any "temporary" installs of fasteners. If the fastener is put in the bike, it should immediately be fully torqued to spec.

 

What my simple rule doesn't account for is that sometimes (usually, in fact) one is installing a small *assembly* of some sort which requires that the various fasteners be torqued down in phases (e.g. lug nuts). That was the case with the shock. I didn't want to torque anything fully until everything was properly aligned, situated, and finger tight.

 

Then I completely forgot to torque the dogbone allen bolt. Eventually, maybe thirty minutes later, some bit of worry bubbled up from my subconscious and I corrected the oversight. But it would have been very easy for it to have slipped my mind entirely.

 

How do other members prevent this? A better system? A better memory? I know you will occasionally see pen-paint marks from the factory, which I assume serve such a purpose, but marking the fastener would be impractical for me as I often need to reassemble the same components multiple times, which of course the factory never does.
 

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I keep a notepad [spiral bound] on my workbench with a section [back pages] devoted only to torque. I put torque non-completion data at the back and work forward so I don't have to start at the beginning of the notes and sift through other project info, measurements, part numbers, etc. to find scattered torque status. Follow your 'torque everything to spec at install' guideline religiously, and if you install any part of a system that shouldn't or can't be torqued to spec immediately upon installation, write the exact nut/bolt/position in the notebook w time and day. Review the notebook periodically and again at completion of project. After verifying that you've finished all necessary torque tasks, you can tear out the back pages and start clean on the next project.

 

Doing this has made me comfortable leaving even something as vital as the rear axle nut snug, but not torqued and not staked. I had the brakes off for caliper rebuild/stainless hose install, and without the rear brake, had no way to hold the rear wheel assembly against the 148 ft/lb torque required for the axle nut. Later, after installing the brakes, my notebook reminded me to torque and stake the axle nut, just in case I got caught up in finish line fever and thought about a premature test ride. Of course, I end up rechecking many torques after final tightening - safe still being significantly better than sorry. The story of how the rear wheel came off is way better when heard about someone else's snafu than when told about your own.

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Dunno -- been wrench'n a long time..... can't say I've missed torquing anything that has been required...... Maybe I'm using the Nike method..... :beer:

 

 

Btw - @sfdownhill----I made an 8 foot plank with the lug hole pattern drilled into it..instant monster torque arm...bolt it up a go to town on torquing or un- torquing the rear nut... work well no sweat.....

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nothing to do with bikes but my rear hub nut on my VW Vanagon is torqued up to 368 lbs ft or 500 nm, do not know how I will manage to tighten that up

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What I do at work, and what appears to be done when the bike is assembled, is a paint pen mark. I've never taken anything on the bike apart far enough to need it, but that's one way.


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On 9/24/2017 at 6:33 PM, mello dude said:

Dunno -- been wrench'n a long time..... can't say I've missed torquing anything that has been required...... Maybe I'm using the Nike method..... :beer:

 

 

Btw - @sfdownhill----I made an 8 foot plank with the lug hole pattern drilled into it..instant monster torque arm...bolt it up a go to town on torquing or un- torquing the rear nut... work well no sweat.....

 

Nice. Simple. Strong.

 

 

Jhenley, thanks for the paint reminder. Also simple.

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