Torque values

[ifallon]

Maybe this is crazy talk but is there a set of torque values anyone uses for anything on the A10 ?

Maybe it’s a silly question and there aren’t big enough bolts to worry about doing anything other than hand “tight” ?

[RichardL]

Maybe this is crazy talk but is there a set of torque values anyone uses for anything on the A10 ?

Maybe it’s a silly question and there aren’t big enough bolts to worry about doing anything other than hand “tight” ?

Yep, it's a silly question. Just search for the word "torque" and you will see that we never bothered speaking of it before. Use the search immediately above, not the one to the upper right.

Richard L.

[muskrat]

G'day i fall.
19 pages of results or a search for "torque".
Even tightness is almost as important as torque with the head and barrels. Cush nut (65ft/lb) is important.
Primary/timing cover screw I do to 10ft/lb.
Cheers

[Swarfcut]

 Swarfy torque.... Loose, a bit tight, tighter, finger tight, just right tight, fairly tight, very tight, extremely tight, expletive deleted tight, tight with a big metal tube on the biggest breaker bar you have, same again but hit it with a big hammer, same again, but dance on the bar. Oh bugger!!!! tight.

 Back in the day, torque settings, or the tightness of fixings were by the experience of the spanner wielding artisans. That's how most of us do it, and BSA never published torque figures in the early days. Spanner lengths reflect the average amount of turning force that can be exerted on a particular size of fixing to give a clamping force within the shear value of the fixing material.

 I'd say critical fixings are the crank nut and the clutch centre nut, along with the big end nuts and head bolts. These torque values are well documented in Forum posts and are from accepted experience, but were never official figures, with the exception of the big end nuts, as far as I know.

 Swarfy Metallicus

 

[muskrat]

Swarfy torque.... Loose, a bit tight, tighter, finger tight, just right tight, fairly tight, very tight, extremely tight, expletive deleted tight, tight with a big metal tube on the biggest breaker bar you have, same again but hit it with a big hammer, same again, but dance on the bar. Oh bugger!!!! tight.

Good one Swarfy.
The other one it tighten till it strips and back off 1/2 turn!
Cheers

[ifallon]

Yea I get the spanner length thing and it being a recent phenomenon to have values. I just wondered if anyone had put together a list since.
I thought there were ‘no silly questions’ here - sigh. 

[KiwiGF]

Yea I get the spanner length thing and it being a recent phenomenon to have values. I just wondered if anyone had put together a list since.
I thought there were ‘no silly questions’ here - sigh.

During my A10 rebuild I only used a torque wrench on the conrod and cylinder head nuts, nothing else, and that did not go well when I discovered the wrench over read so they were not tight enough by something like 40%  (result blown head gasket after a few hundred miles and then a second engine rebuild to redo con rod nuts to spec).

Crankshaft cushdrive nut and clutch centre nut I use a rattle gun to get them plenty tight, but you may want to use a torque wrench on them.

Generally just tighten by feel and copious use of brake clean to clean threads then loctite 243 works for me.

On modern bikes where is pretty much a torque spec for every bolt  I pick and choose what to use a torque wrench on, obviously getting the torque wrong on seemingly innocuous bolts like camshaft caps/retainers can have serious repercussions.

Edit: on 1/4” cover bolts, that were probably originally slotted , then often converted to allen bolts it is far too easy to over tighten them, I use the “smalll end of the allen key to avoid over tightening them.

[RichardL]

Yea I get the spanner length thing and it being a recent phenomenon to have values. I just wondered if anyone had put together a list since.
I thought there were ‘no silly questions’ here - sigh.

You are correct. For making light of your question, I apologize. Regarding a list, it would tend to get very lengthy as all of the variations are brought in. For example: alloy or steel head, small or large-journal big ends, stock or ARP big-end bolts, cheese-head or allen-head cover screws, Ernie's or Bert's opinion, etc. There is a torque list published for A65's and we all have our own takes as to how to interpret it for our own bikes. To drill down for particular fasteners, I think it may be best to describe the fastening you're curious about and the conditions for your bike. You will get a variety of advice and someone like myself will say, "yep, he (some other guy) knows best."   

Richard L.

[Colsbeeza]

Hi Ian,
There are some guidelines for the A50 and A65's. I have attached one list from a member Kiwipom, and a sheet from CBS in the USA. They are useful for the non-critical nuts, but caution should be used for the more critical applications. I fully agree with everyone's thoughts.
The most important values for the A7 & A10 where a torque wrench is strongly advisable (Crank nut, clutch nut, conrod nuts, head bolts and others) are different for the later models, and changed even within these later models.
For non-critical nuts, I only use my experience as most do. For the Crank and clutch nuts, I am a rattle gun user. My cheap battery torque wrench is rated at 85 ft-lbs, so about right. As KiwiGF experienced, for conrod nuts you need to make sure your torque wrench is accurate. - you don't get a second chance.!
Cheers
Col