BIG TROUBLE>threads are stripped on head

[animal1]

today we discovered that the the left thread on the head under the cam housing by the decompressor is stripped. we took my head off and found the bolt just resting on the top of the cam housing. just on the one bolt. is the only solution to get an all new head?

[animal1]

would a helicoil work?

[OReilly]

Is it one of the 4 small bolts that hold the cam housing into place or is it one of the 4 large 14mm nuts that hold the actual to the cylinder. Either one is an easy fix and you don't need a new head. If its the cam housing bolt, just drill it out and install a helicoil. Really easy and you can get them at any auto parts store. If the large 14mm nut is stripped, you can pull the head and cylinder off and install a new cylinder stud.

If you are not mechanically inclined, have a mechanic do it.

[animal1]

its one of the four small ones on the cam housing.

[animal1]

is this an easier fix than if it were the large ones or are they about the same?

[ss440ex]

With that bolt being loose,there are no cracks in your cam housing is there?

Check the aft left mounting area (bolt hole) Where it mounts to the head.

Mine were loose and guess what I found!

[animal1]

ill make sure to check

[dober250R]

I had this happen to me on my 2007. The rear 2 bolts are 7mm shorter than the front 2 bolts. If you put the shorter bolts up front, you don't get enough thread engangement and they rip the threads out of the aluminum. Honda is retarded and should have just used 4 of the longer bolts. An easy fix is to heli-coil that hole. 5 minute fix, and a heli-coil is stronger than a regular threaded hole into aluminum. When you threading into aluminum, you are supposed to have at least 2 diameters of thread engagement, and if you used the shorter bolts, you have only about 1 diameter of thread length.

[450rdominator]

hahaha..im not laughing at you..i just did the same thing two days ago...just get an easy out...drill really small whole in the screw then just hammer the easy out into the whole and slowley start to back the screw out so you dont have to tap it out and get a new screw and all that other stuff!!!!!

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by dober250R
I had this happen to me on my 2007. The rear 2 bolts are 7mm shorter than the front 2 bolts. If you put the shorter bolts up front, you don't get enough thread engangement and they rip the threads out of the aluminum. Honda is retarded and should have just used 4 of the longer bolts. An easy fix is to heli-coil that hole. 5 minute fix, and a heli-coil is stronger than a regular threaded hole into aluminum. When you threading into aluminum, you are supposed to have at least 2 diameters of thread engagement, and if you used the shorter bolts, you have only about 1 diameter of thread length.

Honda is retarded because you put the bolts in backwards? You would really have to work to get those longer ones in the shorter holes, because I know they will bottom out before being fully tight.

[dober250R]

Nope, they made the threads deep enough that the longer bolts work without bottoming out where the short bolts are supposed to go. Honda is freaking retarded, they should have just used 4 bolts that were the same length. They are different in length by a whole 7mm!!! Which is .2755 in inches. They were just trying to save cost in a whole 2 bolts.

[d3ktrix]

Why make a bolt longer then it has to be?
If you do that through out the whole bike just to make all hardware the same that is just more added weight and more bolt to snap off in the hole.

If you see 2 bolts are short and 2 are long, why not figure out where they have to go instead of bashing the manufacture?

Just by looking at the side of the cam carrier you can see one side needs longer bolts then the other side.

[dober250R]

You can hardly notice the difference in length between the 4 bolts. And by adding 7mm more length does not add that much weight, it won't even come close to being a pound. A couple ounces at best. I'm just saying making 4 bolts the same length would make things a little more user friendly, which the manufacturers don't seem to do. They are more worried about saving 2 cents over saving weight on quads. If they wanted to save weight, they wouldn't have even made an "ER" model.

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by dober250R
You can hardly notice the difference in length between the 4 bolts. And by adding 7mm more length does not add that much weight, it won't even come close to being a pound. A couple ounces at best. I'm just saying making 4 bolts the same length would make things a little more user friendly, which the manufacturers don't seem to do. They are more worried about saving 2 cents over saving weight on quads. If they wanted to save weight, they wouldn't have even made an "ER" model.

My longer bolts will bottom out before seating fully, I know I tried it.:cool: