There is your correct answer, I usually go in the middle at 100 inch pounds. They aren't supposed to be super tight.

 

I tried with one of those Swiss Army knife style ones (it's stubby with a big plastic handle)
Like this


Then with a breaker bar and T-27 socket when that didn't work.

Crummy soft bolts tightened too much make for an exciting afternoon.

 

You don't need bolt extractors.

The heads are easy to drill off, then remove the cover, then take vice grips to the remaining stud. Use a bit just a tad bigger than the stud.

It is truly a 2 minute simple job.

Been there done that.

The problem is a galvanic reaction between the iron on the bolt and the aluminum on the primary.

They fixed that in more recent years by adding an insert.

Moving forward, I would HIGHLY suggest adding anti-seize to your bolts.

 

I also anti seize mine, and just one hand snug is fine. I have removed ones that pop like hell where some idiot moron went way too tight on them. No excuse for it.
On cars and trucks, morons been over doing lug nuts, drain plugs, oil filters, and valve cover bolts since they first rolled off the line.
I remember a sign: "Nothing can be completely foolproof, because fools can be incredibly clever".

 

SafetyMan wrote above:
[[ Moving forward, I would HIGHLY suggest adding anti-seize to your bolts. ]]

That's the way, but I would like to add this:

Never, never, NEVER use a torque wrench on the derby cover bolts.
Don't even use a standard ratchet wrench.
I prefer allen heads to Torx -- much better.

Thread them in by hand, then use either a handheld allen wrench or a "palm ratchet" (Sears used to sell these, not sure who sells them now).

Tighten them "snug", then just a little more.

That'll do it....

 

I agree, I do have torque wrenches but never bother to use them on a derby cover. If youve done enough wrenching and have a little common sense you shouldnt need one to tighten small fasteners

 

I had a spare primary cover I was getting powder coated, went to remove the derby cover and I've never seen such tight or strong screws. Several of them were so tight that even with a snap-on T-27 on a hand impact - the screws stayed put, didn't strip out and twisted the splines on the T-27. At that point I quit and drilled the head off of them - once the torque was released you could unscrew them with your fingers. Says to me these are very high quality screws and that some idiot must have used a 1/2" impact to tighten them.

 

Taketh not the Lord's name in vain.

 

Those derby cover screws weren't on too tight. It's dissimilar metals, steel screws into aluminum. As mentioned, a little anti-sieze will keep this from happening again. 100 inch pounds and use the proper sequence.

 

how do you know his hispanic gardener doesn't work on harleys on the side?