Torque wrenches

Hi all

Just bought a new bike recently and was leafing through the owners manual at some of the maintainence information and noticed there were some fastener torque setting in in/lbs. and some in ft/lbs. I imagine that with all the aluminum parts proper torque is fairly important. I do a lot of my own maintainence/repairs on my pickup and once the warranty runs out on the bike will probably start doing the same with it so I guess the question I have is what do you guys use for torque wrenches. As well if there are any Kawasaki owners reading this what is available for a repair manual for one of these bikes.

Thanks in advance for any information
John

Thanks for the reply Chucktx

I guess I am totally ignorant as to the range of torque settings one would encounter working on a bike. I have a 3/8" drive (0-80 ft/lb) wrench at present but obviously will need more. Could I trouble you for the torque ranges for the wrenches in your set. Might as well get the right tools right off the bat.

Thanks again
John

Thanks Kenfuzed

You and Chucktx both replied that you have a "set" of wrenches that you use. I guess I have never heard of buying torque wrenches in sets. That term is pretty much meaningless to me. Thanks for the info on the repair manuals I will definately check the sites out!

John

Very wise of you to check into this! Most people don't bother with torque tools and just rely on 'experience'. Those are the ones that created the market for HeliCoil and Kingsert. Aluminum is unforgiving with an over-torque situation especially with the heat expansion of an air cooled engine. Both an inch pound (to about 200) and a foot pound (to about 150) would be perfectly adequate for anything on a Harley. (You do know that 12 inch lbs equals 1 foot lb. - right? So you can use a good, precision (dial type) foot lb torque wrench for the higher inch lb torques - but most do not read very low) The inch pound one will cost you the most.

I must amend this! Like this: :fight:

Another good source for manuals is Repair Manual Catalog Online - RepairManual.com

If you can only get one wrench for now, just convert (12 inch lbs=1 ft lb)

Thanks alot for this guys!

John

:fight:

Get your manual and find the common range of torque values you will be needing for your bike.

Then choose your tools knowing that the top most and bottom most 10% are not calibrated for accuracy. In other words the working range of a torque wrench is the median 80%.....So a 0-100 ft/lb wrench has a working range of 10-90 ft/lbs.

If you buy the clicker type, make sure you unload the spring preset after you are done with the job and before putting the tool away. As the spring fatiques, the torque accuracy diminishes. Dial indicating and deflecting beam wrenches are the most accurate over time.

Calibrating these wrenches was my job in the Navy, and I know what I'm talking about.

I have tq wrenches in 1/2 lb incraments 0-650 ft lbs and 0 300 in lbs and I have used the cheap ones and will never use them again. my own opinion, and they are also calibrated yearly clikers are nice and I have them but he most accurate ones and the most reliable ones are the dial type with a light I have snap on , mac , proto. don't shop at sears anymore. if you have a clicker you should have it calibrated every so often as they do get out of calibration from setting around dropping or not backing the tension off it when finished, I won't bet my life on a 30.00 dollar wrench nor would I bet yours. hense you get what you pay for..

Yup, I believe in torque wrenches, it keeps me from muscle F’n everything.

I have been using a craftsman digital torque wrench for some time now, one of the most usefull features is that it works on left and right hand threads. The trans shaft is a reverse thread that needs to be set anywhere from 60-90 ft lbs.

I've got a 3/8" drive 0-250in/lb and 1/2" drive 0-250ft/lb. I wouldn't go for bargain basement ones but don't need Mac or Snap-On either. A decent middle road click type should be accurate enuf for doing your own work,just remember to unload them when finished and reclaibrate every so often.