Rear Wheel Torque

[Skywagon]

I just had the dealer change my tires. I would like to check and make sure they got the torque value correct. I have a 2005 R1150RT. If I am reading the manual correct and doing the right Nm to Ft'lbs conversion, the 4 studs should be set at 77.5 ft/lbs. I am taking a long trip tomorrow and just want to make sure. Do you locktite or not.

 

Thanks.

[KER]

NO LOCKTITE OR LUBE, rear wheel torque is 105nm...so whatever that converts to.

[Skywagon]

Thanks... the conversion is 1nm = .73756 ft lbs. So 77.4 is close..

[Linz]

I use a tip of my wife's fingernail polish on the top of each of the 4 bolts when I'm satisfied that they're torqued correctly. I can easily check if there has been any rotation very quickly before each ride.

 

I'm not paranoid, I actually did have the rear wheel almost come adrift on a mountain run some months ago.

 

I can tell you that there is almost zero warning when that happens if you use my experience as a guide.

 

I thought I had a flat and by the time I could pull over, the wheel was hanging on by a few threads. Very frightening.

 

Cheers,

 

Linz

[T__]

Skywagon, while it sure isn’t a bad idea to follow up on your dealers work (especially if headed out on a long trip) re-checking a basic bolt torque is different than originally torqueing the fastener..

 

Once a bolt (your wheel retention bolt in this instance) is tightened then ridden on it sticks so if your wheel bolt was torqued to 70’ lbs it would probably re-check tight to turn at 75’ lbs or more even though it was originally only torqued to 70’ lbs.. There is a difference between torque to tighten & break away torque..

 

Not a big issue & still not a bad idea to check the torque..

 

Twisty

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I'm with Twisty on this.

You can't duplicate the original torque setting on an already tightened bolt. All you will know is that it takes more than the set torque to move the bolt. That may be sufficient for you but if you wish to know precisely, you will have to loosen the bolt and than torque it to specification again.

[Wooster]

And if you do loosen, don't use torque wrench as breaker bar: also, when you re-torque, do so in two steps. I forget the recommended first step, something like 35 ft pds on each of the four rear wheel bolts, in a cross manner, then the final torque setting, again, in a cross manner.

 

Wooster who gets tite at nite

[Skywagon]

Thanks all.. I appreciate it. I have my aircraft A&P with IA privledge, so generally mechanically ok. I agree with post from Twisty and others on initial vs.s post torque. What I needed was the value so I could insure it was at least at that value. I set the torq wrench accordingly and all bolts were fine. I checked everthing I could via the manual and clymers for torque. I am headed out in the morning for about 1700 miles in 3 days with my Harley buddies. New tires, new 6000 miles service, full tank of gas, thermals, electrics.........ROADTRIP! Be back in a few days.