Fasteners

[artguy]

Long time Dual Sport rider, new DR owner. While working on my new '06 DR650 replacing the front fender, bars and such, I discovered that more than half of the bolts I've encountered are little more than finger tight. I'm guessing that a couple of hours in the dirt would result in a pile of DR parts on the trail. Anyone else find this? Looks like I'll be spending Saturday with a torque wrench and a bottle of blue loctite.

[rocketnv]

Don't go too nuts with the torque wrench! I did the same thing and ended up having to buy a few metric fasteners, since the Suzuki oem fasteners are made of butter.

I'd locktite 'em and if it's not a crucial engine component, then use your judgement on the tightness of fender bolts etc.. Trust me, it sucks easy-outing broken bolts.

In fact I was torquing my magneto cover bolts lastnight since my buddy had me second guessing myself and guess what...more broken bolts, except this time in the engine case with fresh rvt and a new $10 gasket.

I salvaged the job, but I'll never use a torque wrench again on DR unless it's an internal engine component, or and axle bolt or something along those lines.

[Wybs]

I replace a lot of those suzuki "bolts". I have a great commercial HW store near me. They have any bolt with any type head. All in 8.8 hardness. It is usually only a couple bucks for the good bolts. I have done stuff like the caliper bolts, triple clamp bolts... Most of the big swingarm bolts seem to be OK but the rest are marginal, especially if you wrench a lot. Only bad part is the stuff I buy is not painted so it will corrode eventually (the zuk bolts also corrode after the wrech scratches the finish). Stainless would be nice but it is not the right material for the task

[jrs200]

I think it varies from shop to shop. I think they did a pretty good job of putting mine together. I went back over all the bolts when i got the bike home when new. Everything seemed tight. I did start hearing a rattle after 1000 miles. It was one of the allen screws on the tailpipe heat shield. ebay has a complete set of 10.9 Grade Rated bolts/nut set. Zinc plated. I think they are close to $45.00.

The only problem I have is just with the phillip's screws, stripping the heads. I replace them with allen heads I got from work.

If you break/strip bolts practice where you hold your wrench/ratchet. for 8-10mm heads I tighten it with the palm of my hand centered over the bolt. For 12mm I wrap my fingers around the wrench and put my thumb on the wrench head. Just move out further for slightly bigger bolts. You'll never break/strip or loose another bolt again. Just keep an eye on the ones that are vibrated a lot. Like the heat shield screws. Vibration and heat will loosen even the best torqued bolts.

[artguy]

Also, make sure you don't mistake inch/pounds for foot/pounds when torquing. That is something that is easier to do than you might think.

[eteller]

I found the same thing as well, but mine were most likely due to the ham-fisted monkeyboy that put the thing together at the stealership because the bars were loose on the ride home. I have heard though that thumpers will rattle everything loose so invest in the BIG bottle of threadlocker.

Ed

06' dr 650 999mi.

[Roger Beck]

Recently did my 600-mile service, all bolts OK. Several bolts have small white paint marks on them, I guess someone marked them as they torqued them.

The oil drain plug feels cross-threaded; is it designed that way so it won't vibrate out? My bikes before this one were 1975 and older, so maybe this is a "new" idea?

Correction: 1978 and older, not 1975 ?