We are committed to finding, researching, and recommending the best products. Must Have Motorcycle Tools For Productive Wrenching MO Wrenching: Why You Need A Torque Wrench These can easily become life-or-death hazards. Now imagine the dire consequences of a loose nut on the bike’s suspension or wheels. Do you really want to take your engine apart again because the head gasket is leaking. Think for a moment about a cylinder head that is not torqued down. Second, if the fastener is too loose, it could spin free, leading to potential component failure. First, if you over torque the fastener, you can feel the sudden looseness of stripped threads or a broken bolt – both of which set you up for potentially time-consuming repairs. What happens if you don’t use a torque wrench?īasically one of two undesirable possibilities await an improperly torqued fastener. If you use a torque wrench to loosen fasteners, you run a very high chance of knocking it out of calibration and effectively rendering it useless. A torque wrench is a precision measuring instrument, not a breaker bar. Is it OK to loosen bolts with a torque wrench?Īgain, in a word, no. So, you should also buy your motorcycle’s factory service manual. You also need to know what values to set it to. However, having a quality torque wrench is only half of the equation. Have you ever seen a bike with a missing rear axel nut? It’s not something you want to experience first hand. Over tightening or under tightening fasteners on your motorcycle can get very expensive very quickly – and that’s before we even consider the potential risk you would put yourself under with improperly-tightened bolts. Look for calibration accuracy of around 4%-5%.īelow, you will find a listing of some of the best torque wrenches we can find, based on the manufacturer’s reputation, specifications, and reviews. Since quality and price often go hand-in-hand, you should avoid the cheapest ones but the average user doesn’t need to go out and buy the most expensive one, either. While I have always used click-type torque wrenches, which briefly release with a click when the specified torque is reached, digital torque wrenches, which use a beep and/or vibration to let you know when proper torque is reached are increasingly popular. (In my toolbox, I have both a 1/2-inch and 3/8-inch drive for foot-pounds and inch-pounds, respectively.)Īs you choose the type of torque wrench you buy, stay away from the cheap bar-type, which is hard to use and easy to misread. Larger, higher-torque fasteners will usually require a 1/2-inch drive, and smaller, a 3/8-inch drive. The size of the square drive on the ratchet will determine what sockets can be mounted to it. You may save some money with a no-name brand, but the quality and durability may be suspect. When choosing a brand, go with one that has a good reputation. To ease your buying decision, look for these attributes: brand, size of ratchet drive, type of wrench, quality, and price. When looking for a torque wrench, it’s easy to get lost in the woods of specifications and prices. Every motorcyclist should have one to assist them in their home-mechanic efforts. While torque wrenches have always been important, modern motorcycles, and particularly their engines, depend on the exacting tightening specifications allowed by a torque wrench. Photos by: Lead photo: Vladimir Zhupanenko/Īs motorcycle technology has advanced, the tolerances to which they are manufactured have gotten ever tighter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |