Author Topic: torque wrench question  (Read 5102 times)

Offline smooth operator

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torque wrench question
« Reply #15 on: June 13, 2005, 06:24:46 AM »
I use laquer thiner to degreese nuts and bolts. Have a preasureized can at the shop. Anytime something comes apart,it gets degreesed befor it goes back together

Offline PitterB4

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torque wrench question
« Reply #16 on: June 13, 2005, 09:02:04 AM »
Quote from: "krusty kritter"
Quote from: "land_shark"
Well, I should have read this thread before tackling my valves :banghead: ....


Problem here was land_shark tried to torque oily bolts. That's not a good idea...

One thing that newbie home mechanics should realize is that bolts are called "friction fasteners" because the male thread on the bolt holds to the female threads in the bolt holes by friction between the metal parts...

There is always going to be friction between the bolt and the hole, you want enough friction so the bolt won't come loose under vibration...

When you torque a bolt, you are stretching it just a tiny amount, and the torque that it takes to stretch that bolt depends on the friction that is building up between the bolt and the hole as you turn the torque wrench...

When Suzuki assembled your engine at the factory, the mechanic was working with clean dry parts. If a part needed oil, he knew to put oil on it...

But the cam bearing bolts and the cam cover bolts were installed and torqued DRY. An amateur mechanic reading the Suzuki shop manual would never realize that he needed to clean all the oil off the cam cover bolts and use something like brake cleaner to blow all the oil out of the
holes in the cam bearing caps before attempting to torque the bolts...

Personally, I have adjusted the valves on my SACS Suzuki engine a few times but I was lucky I didn't have a torque wrench handy to screw myself up. I always just used a humble "torque stick", AKA box end wrench to torque the bolts by the feel of long experience...

When the threads are oiled, you can torque and torque and torque without the torque wrench ever measuring enough friction to "click"...

The reason I know that I use always degrease my fasteners was I tried to torque a head bolt in an old Suzuki and I thought I was doing a smart thing by lightly oiling the bolts. I broke a head bolt off doing that...


Great info.  It makes sense but I didn't know that.  That's prolly how I stripped my cam cover while using a t/w.   :thanks:  and :welcome:
Rob
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