Side Case Bolt Torque Spec

[GSX1000E]

I torque them to 6 ft.lbs. or 72 in.lbs. if they seep oil, I tighten them to 78-80 in. lbs.

[Sentinel]

If it's a foot pound wrench don't even use it. Inch pound wrench, and only a small one at that. Really there's no need for a torque wrench at all, just go easy. That's probaby why there's no torque spec listed, there's no reason to get them tight at all, people used to just use a screwdriver. Finger tight, and then a little bit more with a small wrench is plenty. There is nothing to be gained by going tight other than crushed and leaking gaskets, stripped threads and heartache.

That is my basic rule for small bolts.

[Sentinel]

I torque them to 6 ft.lbs. or 72 in.lbs. if they seep oil, I tighten them to 78-80 in. lbs.

Thanks, that's basically what I'll be doing here.

[GSX1000E]

I am pretty sure that they will break or strip at about 7.2 ft.lbs.

[Sentinel]

And now I need to know what the torque spec is for the "Governor Bolt".

The nearly worthless shop manual gives a ridiculously wide range from 9.5 to 16.5 lbs. f.

I'm thinking on just going with 12 lbs. f and no more.

[koolaid_kid]

This is scary. Why in the world would anyone use a foot pound torque wrench on such wimpy bolts?

[tkent02]

And now I need to know what the torque spec is for the "Governor Bolt".

The nearly worthless shop manual gives a ridiculously wide range from 9.5 to 16.5 lbs. f.

I'm thinking on just going with 12 lbs. f and no more.

I'd go with the 9.5 and no more.

WTF is a governor bolt?


Why are you even using a worthless manual?

[Sentinel]

This is scary. Why in the world would anyone use a foot pound torque wrench on such wimpy bolts?

The foot-pound torque wrench I have is good from 5 lbs. and up, and is accurate to within 1 or 2 ponds at its worse form what I can tell, which is good enough.

[Gorminrider]

Yes, this is the best I could find so far and yes it is crankcase bolts from the Suzuki Shop Manual for the 250T-300Lz which, FYI applies to the GSX400 The GSX 400 manual is simply an addendum to this where differences occur.



But Really, aren't the screws that hold the clutchcover and Stator Cover
SCREWS, not "bolts"? You use a screwdriver to put em on, so they are screws...After all this isn't carpentry so there shouldn't be any confusion.
Personally, I'm in Tkents camp.I have never used a torque wrench on a screw, but I've murdered a few with impact drivers using a phillips head bit, and when I put new ones in, I just give them a tap with an impact driver...just so the gasket doesn't leak.

Still, I think I saw a torque for a screw in here somewhere and it was 1-2ft/bs .I'm trying to find it again.

[Sentinel]

I'd go with the 9.5 and no more.

WTF is a governor bolt?


Why are you even using a worthless manual?

I haven't got down to that bolt yet, but from what I can tell it's a pretty strong bolt. It may be a 10mm, and should be able to take at least 12 lbs. f of torque or so.

It's called the "Advance Governor". It's part of the ignition system located behind the round plate located on the right end of the crank.

I have the official Suzuki manual, the Haynes, and the Clymer, and all three are one worse than the next; crap writing and crap editing.

[Sentinel]

Yes, this is the best I could find so far and yes it is crankcase bolts from the Suzuki Shop Manual for the 250T-300Lz which, FYI applies to the GSX400 The GSX 400 manual is simply an addendum to this where differences occur.

[ATTACH]22417[/ATTACH]

But Really, aren't the screws that hold the clutchcover and Stator Cover
SCREWS, not "bolts"? You use a screwdriver to put em on, so they are screws...After all this isn't carpentry so there shouldn't be any confusion.
Personally, I'm in Tkents camp.I have never used a torque wrench on a screw, but I've murdered a few with impact drivers using a phillips head bit, and when I put new ones in, I just give them a tap with an impact driver...just so the gasket doesn't leak.

Still, I think I saw a torque for a screw in here somewhere and it was 1-2ft/bs .I'm trying to find it again.

No, those are the actual bolts that hold the two halves of the crankcase together. I'm not splitting the case, just removing and reinstalling the right hand crankcase "cover". In either case they are most definitely "bolts" and not "scews". You are the one that's confused here, but thanks for trying to help anyways.

[Gorminrider]

Yes, I know what you are looking for-I am trying to find if there is such a thing as a torque for them...

Ok Found it...it must be the NUMBERS here that are the clue that place them around the casing?...this is on page 42 of the GSX400E in the middle of the book.




N-M is first, kg/m second. Not ft lbs in THIS table.

[Sentinel]

Yes, I know what you are looking for-I am trying to find if there is such a thing as a torque for them...

Ok Found it...it must be the NUMBERS here that are the clue that place them around the casing?...this is on page 42 of the GSX400E in the middle of the book.

[ATTACH]22418[/ATTACH]

See, now you're beginning to feel my pain! lol

Those are not the crankcase side case bolts, those are the actually crankcase bolts being referred to there! lol

See how horribly written and edited these manuals are?

[Gorminrider]

and just to repost that, because I edited above

"N-M" is listed first in order, "kg/m" is listed second. Not ft lbs in THIS table.
I fear to try to compress the whole page to attach here. 19kb limit isn't much

[tkent02]

I haven't got down to that bolt yet, but from what I can tell it's a pretty strong bolt. It may be a 10mm, and should be able to take at least 12 lbs. f of torque or so.

How much it "can take" and how much it needs to do it's job are two entirely different things. All it's doing is holding on a little hunk of metal on the end of a crankshaft. Not a whole lot of force involved. Why would you want to find out how much it "can take"? None of these bolts need to be as tight as they "can take". If they did Suzuki would have used a bigger bolt and put it in under less stress.

I have noticed on the KTMs they typically use one size smaller fasteners than Suzuki would use in any given application. Weight saving I guess. Their torque specs are an exact number of Newton-Meters, not a wide range like 16 - 28 or whatever. Coincidence? I think not. The bolts when properly torqued are closer to the failure point. You have to use a torque wrench, you can't guess that closely.

It's really nice to never break off bolts or strip out bolt holes anymore. It took me a long time to get to that point. Trust the fasteners. They work, even without being in as tight as they can go.