Rotor Bolts

[Sinthroid]

Went for a ride this weekend and about 40 miles into the ride I started hearing a funny noise from the front. My rotor bolts had come loose.
One had worked out far enough that it started to touch the inside fork tube.
Thanks to AutoAone for the tool loan.
I got home and locktited them all.

Check your bolts!

 

[Cutter]

Good thing you caugt them before you had a problem, P8triot had the same on a rental, and a several others have had them loosen up.

I have checked but never found a problem in 13,000.

 

[Raywood]

I've found mine loose a couple times. First time was when I would get loud squeeling out of the front brake.
Check them often and use some good loctite.

 

[RRRUFF]

My rear brake was making a loud noise but it was my caliper bolts that had loosened. Took them out clean them up, blue loctited and torqued to spec. No more problem!

 

[Sinthroid]

Of all things to loosen.
What else do you recommend to check?

Whats a good torque wrench?

 

[RRRUFF]

Yea brakes who needs them, they're only good for stoping and polishing. Check the bolts and screws on everything that you don't want to fall off or you think you might need later. Oh, "blue loctite" is your best friend. Use on just about everthing.

 

[TCALZ06]

are you guys checking those with a torque wrench when you check them or just a allen wrench to make sure they are still tight?

Any problem using locktight RED? My new mirrors kept coming loose until I took them apart and used the red. Blue wouldn't hold them

 

[Sinthroid]

Red or Blue?

 

[reloaderbmg]

BLUE!!!
you will have to heat red to get it loose!

 

[Rick]

Are you sure you have to heat red? I just disassembled almost my entire bike and I didint heat any bolts. Many had red loctite on them. They were tight, but no heat was needed.

 

[Rick]

Of all things to loosen.
What else do you recommend to check?

Whats a good torque wrench?

After finding some of the things I found recently during my disassemble I suggest checking all bolts often. Especially those in the moving parts areas. These bikes generate alot of vibration, whether you feel it or not. Bolts loosen after hundreds of miles of that vibration. Check your dog for wear while you are checking bolts, wires, break lines, oil lines etc. anything that comes in contact with another piece of metal. Could save you a tow truck ride, or worse.

 

[hoat]

not every red needs heat only some of them with lots of them on it like the shock bolts could have used some

 

[Gas Man]

Oh yeah... shock bolts have ALOT of red and are VERY VERY VERY STIFF.

 

[P8RIOT]

It's all a question of degree - red holds much tighter than blue - and the manufacturer does recommend that heat will help loosen the red. But then who's going to torch something like their shock bolts to remove them??

If you do find any bolts that are loose, and the Service Manual recommends loctite and a specific torque value, the bolts should be removed, cleaned thoroughly (both the bolt AND the hole), and then reassembled with the proper loctite and torque. That is, don't just retighten a loose bolt and think it will hold.

Here's the chance you're taking if you don't do it right - notice how the bolt heads chewed right into the strut, near my index finger. Imagine if that woulda locked up the front wheel while we were cruising along at 80mph in the desert.

It even trasferred some of the strut aluminum to the head of the bolts!

 

[TCALZ06]

so what's the best way to check these? The manual says 16ft lbs which isn't much. So should you set a torque wrench to like 13lbs so you don't break the loctite loose?

 

[LamboV12]

so what's the best way to check these? The manual says 16ft lbs which isn't much. So should you set a torque wrench to like 13lbs so you don't break the loctite loose?

Sure you could... or set it to 16 and if it breaks, just put some new loctite and torque it back to 16 - not a big deal and easy to reach...

Re: Loctite - Red is stronger, but I have been told blue is heat resistant... that came from the BD factory when they said to use blue on my exhaust studs coming out of the block...

Damn P8riot - that's a good one. Surprised you did not hear it sooner. I like to wipe down my bike every week and give it once over on all the bolts..

 

[P8RIOT]

Damn P8riot - that's a good one. Surprised you did not hear it sooner. I like to wipe down my bike every week and give it once over on all the bolts..

Yeah, you'd think it would be pretty obvious, but there's something of a story that goes with it. That was the first time I had even ridden a Big Dog, and it was a rental in Phoenix.

Daytime temp was 117 degrees when I picked it up, and was measured at over 135 out on the Arizona desert highway while we happily cruised along at 80 mph. As near as I can tell, the bolts didn't back out until later that night, when I was dodging lightning storms (and loud thunder!), splashing through rain puddles on the street, trying to get back to the hotel. (It was a dark and stormy night! )

Meanwhile, the speedo had quit working, and shifting had degraded to the point I couldn't get it into any lower gears, much less neutral. The clutch was tightening up to where it would not completely disengage, so stopping at traffic lights usually meant killing the motor. It was about that time I started to hear a light ticking sound, but by then I was distracted by the transmission problems, and associated the sound with that - maybe a bad bearing - the other possibility that occured to me was debris in the brake rotor, since the sound seemed to be coming from more forward - but it was so dark nothing was immediately visible while riding.

Actually, I had been monitoring the other Big Dog forum for some time, so I just smiled when the speedo quit. I wasn't even surprised when shifting became difficult. Both problems were common forum topics at that time. The last thing I expected was rotor bolts backing out.

It wasn't until the next morning in the bright sunshine that the problem leaped right out at me. That whole rental was a real learning experience. Most of the trouble was simply poor maintenance, but certainly aggravated by the extreme weather conditions.

Regardless, I still eagerly ordered my own K-9, and it has been trouble-free for 6500 miles - but you can bet I Keep a close eye on any bolts that might vibrate loose. :up:

 

[bdmridgeback]

There is 2 different red loctite to choose from. One needs heat and the other usually doesn't.
Go to the loctite website and look and make sure you buy the right one.

 

[pink chopper]

I have overtightened LOTS of things on bikes and made alot bigger problems than I already had...use common sense...things like rotor bolts in my opinion can't be too tight and I use red on them (loctite brand)..but use common sense when tightening things up like starter bolts, derby cover, primary cover, anything touching paint...etc...etc...another thing to check frequently is your front fender bolts..both on the brackets that hold the fender and also where they bolt into your front legs....have a few horror stories about that..but I'm sure you get the picture...your front fender dropping onto your wheel at 100+ kinda sucks...