Hello sorry to be a bother I was wondering if anyone has done this before and managed to sort it out. Basically I've had a few months out of riding due to a massive crash hit a car that turned right in front of me at 50mph.

Anyway I've been working on my k100 RS84 and have sorted a leaking fork seal problem only to find out that I've over tightened the two m8 (I believe it is) bolts on the forks. The ones marked with an x on the following image. Anyone done this before and how did you manage to sort it, I'm not sure whether to drill or try and use a tap and die.




This is my other bike after the crash by the way encase you were curious.





Cheers for any replies.
Sam.

When you say that you over tightened them, do you mean that you stripped the threads in the fork? If so the best way to fix it is to get a Helicoil kit.

Avenger GT wrote:When you say that you over tightened them, do you mean that you stripped the threads in the fork? If so the best way to fix it is to get a Helicoil kit.

Yes they have been stripped right at the end the bolt still tightens but won't stay snug. So with the bolt tightened I get a small stream of oil.

Bl'dy hell Joker - that's quite some mess that has been made of your other bike. How did you do in the crash? Hope you didn't get too badly injured. Blooming Bristol drivers - the whole lot of them need to learn to drive again (I encounter at least 3 eejits every day that I commute out of the city - and the pedestrians & cyclists are nearly as bad).

The bolt that you indicate is the fork oil drain bolt - definitely not M8 bolt (more like M4 - the number referring to the size of the threaded portion rather than the size of the bolt head). Anyway, the normal torque setting is only 9Nm, so with steel into aluminium alloy, it is really easy to strip the thread if you don't use a torque wrench or just nip it up with a 10mm spanner.

As Avenger says, helicoil is probably your best bet, but tapping to the next size up (M5) should be possible and suitable bolts will be readily available from most hardware stores.

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Bl'dy hell Joker - that's quite some mess that has been made of your other bike. How did you do in the crash? Hope you didn't get too badly injured. Blooming Bristol drivers - the whole lot of them need to learn to drive again (I encounter at least 3 eejits every day that I commute out of the city - and the pedestrians & cyclists are nearly as bad).

The bolt that you indicate is the fork oil drain bolt - definitely not M8 bolt (more like M4 - the number referring to the size of the threaded portion rather than the size of the bolt head). Anyway, the normal torque setting is only 9Nm, so with steel into aluminium alloy, it is really easy to strip the thread if you don't use a torque wrench or just nip it up with a 10mm spanner.

As Avenger says, helicoil is probably your best bet, but tapping to the next size up (M5) should be possible and suitable bolts will be readily available from most hardware stores.

Cheers on the crash I fractured my left ankle, seriously bruised the knee and broke the distal radius + scaphoid in the left wrist. Couldn't walk for one month as it was too painful with my leg constantly locking (still does now) and now can't lift more than 6kg on the left and the ulna can be moved with my fingers. So got to get that checked out on the 2nd of next month.

The car was a Renault scenic and I ended up wiping out his left rear a pillar, he was a 75 year old driver that said he just didn't see me. Pretty lucky considering the crash bar you can see bent through the bike hit me in the knee but didn't puncture it.

..

Back to topic I never used to take any notice really with torque settings and everything has been fine before, regarding the bolt as I've said. It can be tightened up it just doesn't stay there. I haven't got a drill at the moment (never needed one don't do diy in the shared house) so I guess I'll have to look at drills now then and go for a helicoil. Might try to go for the tap first see if it works.

Thanks for the replies.

TheJoker wrote:

Back to topic I never used to take any notice really with torque settings and everything has been fine before, regarding the bolt as I've said. It can be tightened up it just doesn't stay there. I haven't got a drill at the moment (never needed one don't do diy in the shared house) so I guess I'll have to look at drills now then and go for a helicoil. Might try to go for the tap first see if it works.

Thanks for the replies.

hi, as others have said, it's only a drain bolt, so it doesn't hold or bolt down anything (except hold the oil in   )   The second X on your diagram is the rubber o-ring, which is what compresses to take up the torque (and hold the oil in   ).  It's common enough to strip them as they are very easy to overtighten.  I use finger-tight with a small spanner. Just enough to compress the o-ring.

if you can tap it and it works, that'll do. Otherwise it is easiest to go to your friendly bike shop or engineering works and get a helicoil. 

The two bolts below it are M8 and are the ones that clamp the axel (and hold the wheel on   ).

Hey!

If you tighten the screw next time, remember:
Showa fork oil screw 7Nm
Brembo fork 9Nm

That is almost nothing, a Torque wrench will help.

Cheers


I wish you all the best for you recovery, the bike looks sad

TheJoker wrote:Cheers on the crash I fractured my left ankle, seriously bruised the knee and broke the distal radius + scaphoid in the left wrist. Couldn't walk for one month as it was too painful with my leg constantly locking (still does now) and now can't lift more than 6kg on the left and the ulna can be moved with my fingers. So got to get that checked out on the 2nd of next month.

The car was a Renault scenic and I ended up wiping out his left rear a pillar, he was a 75 year old driver that said he just didn't see me. Pretty lucky considering the crash bar you can see bent through the bike hit me in the knee but didn't puncture it.

Sorry to hear that Sam - I can sympathise completely with the distal radius and scaphoid break - at least you got them in the same hand...I manage to break the radius in the left (as well as chipping a chunk of my left ulna) and the broke the scaphoid in the right hand. Makes life rather difficult for a few weeks, but at least my legs, head and spine were OK! Doing your ankle as well is a real bummer, but as you say, really lucky not to do more serious damage to your knee. I'm now 14 weeks into my recovery, but at least the strength is coming back in my left hand with daily physio exercises (and monthly physio appointments) - working on the bike is excellent physio (although getting up/down off the ground can be interesting) and very good for the psychological healing. 

Best of luck with your recovery. We'll have to have a coffee somewhen and compare scars! Unfortunately, I'm away on business for the next week, otherwise I'd offer to come up with a drill and taps and try to fix your fork drain bolt this weekend.

If the threads are shot then you're already at the starting point for tapping to M5 as the recommended drill size is 3.8mm. Just go in with a good quality tap. Of course, you're gonna hafta strip the forks beforehand so you can clean the chips out... don't forget the new fork seals

A good rule of thumb for tightening is down-flat-plus-one-eighth of a turn.

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Sorry to hear that Sam - I can sympathise completely with the distal radius and scaphoid break - at least you got them in the same hand...I manage to break the radius in the left (as well as chipping a chunk of my left ulna) and the broke the scaphoid in the right hand. Makes life rather difficult for a few weeks, but at least my legs, head and spine were OK! Doing your ankle as well is a real bummer, but as you say, really lucky not to do more serious damage to your knee. I'm now 14 weeks into my recovery, but at least the strength is coming back in my left hand with daily physio exercises (and monthly physio appointments) - working on the bike is excellent physio (although getting up/down off the ground can be interesting) and very good for the psychological healing. 

Best of luck with your recovery. We'll have to have a coffee somewhen and compare scars! Unfortunately, I'm away on business for the next week, otherwise I'd offer to come up with a drill and taps and try to fix your fork drain bolt this weekend.

Ouch how did your crash happen? The ankle was horrible I still had to walk around on it with a padded boot. Wasn't good to be honest as I was told to use crutches but with everything being broken or fractured on the left it wasn't possible. My crash happened on the 11th November since then I've had 3 physio appointments all before new year; getting physio down south has been almost impossible.

I only started on the bike again this week and my knee is already feeling better now I've only got to sort out the fork legs to get it mot'd (from my reckoning anyway). I'm up north this weekend metal detecting. But I'd love to meet up for a coffee at some point.

Dai wrote:If the threads are shot then you're already at the starting point for tapping to M5 as the recommended drill size is 3.8mm. Just go in with a good quality tap. Of course, you're gonna hafta strip the forks beforehand so you can clean the chips out... don't forget the new fork seals

A good rule of thumb for tightening is down-flat-plus-one-eighth of a turn.

Well I've had the fork seals done already so doubt they would need to be done again this is what caused the problem in the first place. I was going to strip the forks anyway if I was drilling or tapping.

If you're looking for a temporary bodge, might be worth taking out the bolt and looking in the hole, you may be lucky and have some new threads below the original bolt to play with. If you can safely put a slightly longer bolt in, it only needs to catch a few threads to seal. A bit of loctite too if you like

TheJoker wrote:Ouch how did your crash happen? The ankle was horrible I still had to walk around on it with a padded boot. Wasn't good to be honest as I was told to use crutches but with everything being broken or fractured on the left it wasn't possible. My crash happened on the 11th November since then I've had 3 physio appointments all before new year; getting physio down south has been almost impossible.

I only started on the bike again this week and my knee is already feeling better now I've only got to sort out the fork legs to get it mot'd (from my reckoning anyway). I'm up north this weekend metal detecting. But I'd love to meet up for a coffee at some point.

You were taken out a week before me - I had my wreck on 18 Nov. See attached for the whole story:

https://www.k100-forum.com/t11886-four-years-almost-to-the-day-since-my-last-wreck#141379


I was lucky - broken on the Friday, fixed on the Saturday (plate & pins), home on Sunday. Getting washed and dressed to go into the hospital on the Saturday was a real challenge with both hands in casts/splints.  I was able to drive again within 2 weeks and was back on my other LT after 6 weeks for a quick Ireland Christmas trip. However, after that trip, I stayed off the bike and didn't start commuting again on the bike until about 4 weeks ago. Didn't want any complications. Luckily I have a physio at work that I can use.

https://www.k100-forum.com/t12004-gretel-s-recovery#143098

Born Again Eccentric wrote:You were taken out a week before me - I had my wreck on 18 Nov. See attached for the whole story:

https://www.k100-forum.com/t11886-four-years-almost-to-the-day-since-my-last-wreck#141379


I was lucky - broken on the Friday, fixed on the Saturday (plate & pins), home on Sunday. Getting washed and dressed to go into the hospital on the Saturday was a real challenge with both hands in casts/splints.  I was able to drive again within 2 weeks and was back on my other LT after 6 weeks for a quick Ireland Christmas trip. However, after that trip, I stayed off the bike and didn't start commuting again on the bike until about 4 weeks ago. Didn't want any complications. Luckily I have a physio at work that I can use.

https://www.k100-forum.com/t12004-gretel-s-recovery#143098

Ooh another Guinness lover sorry erm yeah back on topic...

Wow that was very lucky you had the video going I bet it will help your case a lot if you go for a separate injuries lawyer. Unfortunately I don't have any other vehicle to drive however I'm tempted on getting an old land rover series 3 this year as my first car maybe a bad idea (especially when I move to wales next year and I'll be commuting 40 miles a day).

Can understand on being in pain going to the hospital again, when mine happened on the 11th I had to wait 30 mins for the ambulance to arrive then 12hrs at the hospital. They said they wanted to do surgery but when I said I couldn't walk and was going with family so they could look after me it was just re-adjusted. Which then meant a 4hr car journey to Stoke-On-Trent in pain with no medication and back in hospital on the 12th.

At least it sounds like you are getting a lot better though and you are lucky enough to have physio at work. I'm dreading the orthopaedics on Thursday to be told it's a TFCC on the wrist.


Anyway nice work on the bike and if it goes well on the wrist and getting the bike sorted then we will have to sort something out regarding a meet up. Take care out there on the bike wouldn't want another incident to happen.

Cheers.
Sam.