WOW!....Broke a bolt

[ridehonda400ex]

Well I was putting my head cover back on and I was torquing down one of the 8mm bolts that are in the front by the spark plug and it snapped, at 7ft pounds! The damn Clymer manual I have says 17ft pounds. I have a snap-on torque wrench that my grandpa gave me and it looks like its from 1970 but is in nice shape. Idk if its not reading accurately or if maybe I messed it up because I went from a half inch drive to a 3/8 drive into a quarter inch(I didnt have any other option) but now I got to go buy the bolt, e-z out sets, and im going to buy a tap and dye set, and probably another smaller torque wrench...sorry to carry on but this just pisses me off!

[Budweiserebel07]

lol same thing happened to me on 4 or 5 of them.. I ended up buying 5/16 24 thread allen bolts and drilled and retapped all the holes. She strips no more, and its a hell of alot easier for me to take out allen head bolts. I have T bar allen wrenches
:cool:

oh if you are gonna re drill them a little bigger dont bother getting an easy out set those honda 8mm bolts are soft. I drilled right through them.

[4WheelinDemon]

when you say it snapped, how far down that bolt did it snap? i just recently put my top end back together a couple days ago. do you mean that you were putting the valve cover back on? the very top piece of the engine?

[Budweiserebel07]

Originally posted by 4WheelinDemon
when you say it snapped, how far down that bolt did it snap? i just recently put my top end back together a couple days ago. do you mean that you were putting the valve cover back on? the very top piece of the engine?

It would have to be. The head doesnt use 8mm bolts... Just the valve cover.

[4WheelinDemon]

thats what i thought. listen, all you have to do if it snapped is just undo all the other bolts and slide off the cover. after that, take a pair of vise grips and clamp it around the bolt and twist it to your left to take it off. then go to your local hardware store and find a bolt with same length and thread then replace it. easy as that.

[CJM]

Depends on where it snapped. The head of it you can remove the cover and vise grip it off (make damn sure you use PBlaster and some heat!). The thigns in there youg otta drill it out and tap it for a 7mm or 1/4" bolt. Pray its not the one that goes all the way into the head-otherwise the heads coming off to do it right.

Then when you go to put them on DO NOT use a torque wrench. Use a 1/4 ratchet and hand tighten them snug in a star pattern. by snug I mean barely tight 7 ft-lbs is very low. I snug up on the ratchet and hold it by the head.

[ridehonda400ex]

Well I wish I wouldve read this before i went and bought a new torque wrench, I got it from harbor freight tho so I didnt spend much

[CJM]

Originally posted by ridehonda400ex
Well I wish I wouldve read this before i went and bought a new torque wrench, I got it from harbor freight tho so I didnt spend much

Tried that route once, it wont click under 10 ft-lbs.

[ridehonda400ex]

so just snug the bolts with a 1/4 inch ratchet and ill be fine? Wont leak oil?

[CJM]

Originally posted by ridehonda400ex
so just snug the bolts with a 1/4 inch ratchet and ill be fine? Wont leak oil?

Nope. Snug them up pretty good using your hand choked up on the head of the ratchet. Make sure to do it in a pattern like a star or something as well.