Torque Wrench

[meinbmw]

Back on a BMW (2004 R1150RT) after many years ... need info please.

 

Will I need a 3/8 drive AND a 1/2 drive to service my bike.

 

Thanks all.

 

 

[szurszewski]

If you're going to torque all fasteners, you'll need wrenches (or a wrench - but I'd use two at least to avoid using them at the ends of their ranges) that can do as low as around 10 ft lbs and as high as a bit over 100 ft lbs.

 

Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything but the pivot bolts on the swingarm that are over 100ft lbs, but I'm sure there are other things (can you guess what I just used a torque wrench for yesterday?).

 

 

More knowledgeable answer will follow.

[Jim Moore]

The rear wheel is 77 ft-lb, so you need at least that. The pivot pins are over 100 ft-lbs. IMO, you need a small one, a medium one, and a big one. There are some fasteners as low as 7 ft-lb.

[dirtrider]

Back on a BMW (2004 R1150RT) after many years ... need info please.

 

Will I need a 3/8 drive AND a 1/2 drive to service my bike.

 

 

You don't NEED any torque wrenches for normal maintenance items if you choose the correct size tools for the bolts that you are tightening & have a good feel for proper bolt tightening (riders have been servicing these things for years with just basic hand tools)

 

BUT! riders have also been stripping bolts on the BMW's for just as long, so to be safe, proper torque wrenches are nice to have available.

 

The main bolt torques for a lot of fasteners fall in the 20nm to 60nm range so a torque wrench accurate in those ranges is a good starting place.

 

There are also some easy to strip small bolts in the 6-8nm range that need to be torqued for service operations so a an accurate torques wrench in that range would also be helpful. If you size the ratchet handle length to these torque specs (ie very short handle) you can get by without a low nm torque wrench but this also requires common sense & an educated hand on the wrench)

 

A high torque wrench (like in the 160 nm range is also nice for wheel removal & some higher torque services but other than rear wheel removal/replacement you can get that wrench when you need to do those services.

[Rawed]

There are some very reliable 3/8 drive electronic torque measuring tools out three that have a large capacity range. I have one that I use on both 3/8 and 1/2 drive sockets varying from 6mm fasteners with 10mm heads to 14mm fasteners with 21mm heads. I have checked it several times against a master torque measuring device at the local community college machine shop. I bought it at Canadian Tire for less than $20 about 5 years ago. Way cheaper than buying 2 good torque wrenches. I'm sure similar products are available at auto supply shops in the US.

[Mike279]

If you are not going to use them everyday. Click style at Harbor freight on sale for less than fifteen dollars are a good choice. Both NM and FT/lb scales on them. Beam style are another good choice and fairly easy to use. No dead batteries to mess with this way. Just remember most are only accurate to a few percent at full scale readings. In other words don't use the 100 scale at 5 and expect it to be accurate. That is why I have three,1/4,3/8 and 1/2 inch for the motorcycles. Mike