Righty tighty or Lefty tighty?

[Mahart]

I have an '05 Sprint ST 1050. I hope that suffices for background info.

I'm having trouble removing the front axle bolt. The 19mm allen one. It's on the right side of the bike, unlike my '01 RS-left side. Is it a regular thread (righty tighty) or reverse (lefty tighty)?

I have removed the front half of the fender. Removed and supported both brake calipers. I have also loosened the pinch bolts on the fork ends. I'm just having a dickens of a time loosening/removing the axle bolt.

Aside from the screw direction, any other tips. My owners manual won't arrive until later this week and I'd really like to get the new tires on.

Thanks

[redmosquito1]

IIRC its standard thread. Use a breaker bar to get it loose cause its quite tight.

[pushr0d]

+1

They are not easy to break loose.

Make sure you put anti-seize on the threads when you put the axle back together.

[oldndumb]

Originally Posted by pushr0d

.

Make sure you put anti-seize on the threads when you put the axle back together.

If you are going to advise applying lube onto fastener threads, shouldn't you also advise what the new torque values will be?

[Tri-oomph!]

I don't have it in front of me, but I don't remember the ft./lbs. being exceptionally high for the axle. I've removed mine twice and it wasn't super tight.

[KitNYC]

I don't think that's what he meant...

I'll just mention that my Haynes manual says to put lithium grease on it and back slowly away from this thread... :

Cheers,
-Kit

[Mahart]

Wow, it was on tight! I got it with a breaker bar and cheater pipe. Thanks for the tips.

I can hardly wait until tomorrow and try the new Pilot Road 2's. Ready for a trip to the hill country in a couple of weeks.

[DaveM]

Originally Posted by KitNYC

I don't think that's what he meant...

I'll just mention that my Haynes manual says to put lithium grease on it and back slowly away from this thread... :

Cheers,
-Kit

Kit you are a very funny man!

:

DaveM

[CharlieS]

Let's see how this works.....

Torque a dry bolt to X ftlbs(nm for others). Torque a lubed bolt to X ftlbs.
Hmmm.... They are both torqued to X ftlbs.
The difference that I can see is that the lubed bolt X will get more turning revolution, fractionally more bolt into the threads, and impart more force against the parts it is fastening together. Is this correct? So, In the case of the front axle, with the axle threaded on the one end, and the other end "floating" and cinched, I don't see a problem. EXCEPT you would apply more force against the spacers?
I can see how this would really effect, let's say, a cylinder head. The lubed bolts would allow the fastners to exert more force against the head, and squish the gasket more, and stress the engine casing more around the cylinders.
Is there a rule for adjusting the torque when lubing the bolt threads?

---Charlie

[oldndumb]

I've gone over this several times in the past and it still seems to register as one of the standard engineering practices that does not have universal acceptance in the forum.

You can find torque charts from various sources that may suffice when a manufacturer does not publish specific specs. They are generalized charts that can vary based on which formula the chart is based on. When a manufacturer specifies a min/max torque it is usually based on the required clamp for a particular component and the stretch of the selected bolt.

In this instance, we have Triumph plainly stating the required torque and specifically instructing to, "Assemble joints dry unless other wise specified in this manual."

Every critical fastener joint is unique and the optimum torque is calculated by the manufacturer for each application.

A properly tightened bolt is one that is stretched so that it acts like a ridged spring pulling the mating surfaces together. The rotation of a bolt at some point causes it to stretch. Several factors affect how much stretch occurs when a given amount of tightening torque is applied. One of those factors is the coefficient of friction, frequently referred to as the "nut factor." The value of this factor indicates that harder, smoother, and/or slicker bolting surfaces, such as threads and bearing surfaces, require less torque to stretch a bolt than do softer, rougher, and stickier surfaces.

There is a basic formula, T = K x D x P, which takes this factor, and others, into account and provides users with a starting point for establishing an initial target tightening torque. The reason that value is a 'starting point' is because the K factor (coefficient of friction) is an estimate. Manufacturers will do further evaluation to determine the optimum tightening torque.

In my earlier post, I could have mentioned a commonly used rule of thumb to calculate wet torque. I purposely did not because there is no excuse to ignore Triumph's specification.

This is one reference source for anyone wanting to read about fastener installation. http://mdmetric.com/fastindx/inxtst.htm
There are many others. None, to the best of my knowledge, advocate lubricating a fastener thread and performing the final torque without recalculating the torque unless the mfgr specifies a wet torque.

But the easy and safe way to do it is just follow Triumph's specs.

As regards the difficult to remove spindle, there could have been several causes. Corrosion is always the initial suspect, but it could have been over torqued on a previous installation. In either case, the remedy would have been to remove and inspect the components. Yes, there are more than two. The obvious item to inspect is the condition of the spindle threads. The not so obvious component is the left fork leg, or rather the spindle bore threads in the fork leg.

More than likely a cleaning will restore both components to a serviceable condition. But, lubricating the spindle threads will result in an over torqued installation.

Luckily, thanks to engineering safety actors, these bike will not explode or go up in flames as a result of maintenance variations. I just fail to see the need to purposely ignore the specifications when it is just as easy to follow them.

Note: My excuses to the real engineers for using "stretch" when the correct term is "tension". Stretch just seemed to work better for purpose of this discussion.