Bad advice. Doing a tightness check is not like torquing during assembly. Don't go loosening all the bolts, most of which have some form of thread adhesive on them. You'll then need to take them off, clean the threads, apply loctite again, etc. and make sure you have access to all fasteners on anycover or else you can warp it.You have a much greater chance of screwing something up. A clear case of the cure being more dangerous than leaving it alone. A little common sense goes a long way.

 

I like the part where you said just tighten them. I use 3/8 wratchet or 1/4 depending on the bolt size, I never use a 1/2 in wratchet, so far all I have ever broke was some grade 5 motor mount bolts went to grade 8 no trouble after the up grade.

[IMG]local://upfiles/3159/9021D157A43F4F699858E006BF3F390E.jpg[/IMG]

 

Guess I need to go back to my original statement
To do it PROPERLY you need to loosen the fastener and retorque it.

KEY WORD HERE IS ****PROPERLY****

In case of loctited then you would have to clean off the old loctite and
reapply fresh loctite of the proper grade.

But we all know none of us is going to do it.
Unless I have reason to believe something has loosened (clicking, clacking, clunking, wobbling,etc) I don't normally check for looseness.
Might check my axles before a long trip but that's about it.

 

But if the bolt or nut has had Loctite applied to it and if you were to loosen it and re torqueor just go over said fastener with Loctite then you run the risk of breaking the Loctite seal. See there's where I have a problem with going over Loctited nuts and bolts. Once the Loctite death grip is broken it's just a nut or bolt that can work it's way loose.

Good logic, but you still run the risk of breaking the loctite loose if you retighten it, if it moves at all it will break the loctite.

 

Ya think the stealers do it like that??

 

Well I guess if it is a ***CRITICAL*** bolt as implied elsewhere, you all can do whatever
you want.
But for me I would want it done the RIGHT way.
If it is *** CRITCAL*** My life may be depeneding on it. I don't want a guesstimate
or that looks or feels tight. I want to know it's tight!
If that means breaking the loctite seal and cleaning and re- torquing it then that's what I would
want done.
But as I said before, About only thing on mine that gets checked is axles.
As I ride a I "sense" for something that doesn't feel right (clicking, clacking, clunks, wobbles, shimmy, etc).
I check the motor mount (lower front) when I do oil change only because it's rubber mounted.
But each to his own and you all do it your own way.

 

WOW, I did not realize I would spark such a debate. I do have the service manual and proper torque wrenches. It makes sense to me that "proper" torque values can only be set from a loosened bolt. I quess what I really wanted to know was what does the stealer do...or maybe a better question is what does everyone else do that does their own service? From the various responses it seems that most do not loosen all but maybe a few like the axle bolts etc.

 

I just had my 1000 mile done that I prepaid for when I bought my bike. I watched the guy do most of it. I think all he did was adjust the clutch, change the oils and he lubed the cables. There was alot of times I didn't watch him but he could not have had the time to do all the torque checking. It really kind of torques me. I paid for all this $hit and what I got was a $300 oil change and a clutch adjust. The only good thing is the dealer did it so it gives me a little more leverage if something goes wrong. but in hindsight I wish I hadn't prepaid for it. Also I supplied the oil, Mobile One. T.

 

This is EXACTLY why I want to do mine myself. Its not really about the money but more piece of mind that all the things on the 1000 schedule get done. I don't trust my dealer any farther than I could throw my bike.