Valve cover broke bolt and stripped threads

[Guest]

What was a simple valve clearance check turned into the usual... 5 steps forward 10 steps back!

Set torque wrench at 6#'s and bolt broke. Even better, one hole is stripped--lucky me, it's one with a sleeve. I read one member fabricated a brass sleeve to re thread a similar scenario. I didn't quite follow that.

Two questions:
Are the sleeves in the cylinder head for the cover replaceable?
Am I reading the chart wrong? The "7" marked bolt mic's at 5.87...

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Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

O'Malley

[jsandidge]

You can helicoil it if you have access. When you put it back together, use an inch/lb torque wrench. The ft/lb wrenches don't measure accurately at the low end of the scale.

[bluehwy]

Awesome! Thank you, jsandidge!

Sorry about the pictures not coming through. I'm not proficient at these things.

I do have access to both spots. The one with the sleeve is the one that is stripped. Are the sleeves removable?

[bluehwy]

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[bluehwy]

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[jsandidge]

Awesome! Thank you, jsandidge!

Sorry about the pictures not coming through. I'm not proficient at these things.

I do have access to both spots. The one with the sleeve is the one that is stripped. Are the sleeves removable?

I wasn't sure about removing them, so I looked for this on youtube.

[bluehwy]

Sorry, jsandidge, I misspoke. I don't have any helicoils in yet that need to be removed. I meant to say the dowel. There are only two bolt holes that have the dowels and it's below one of these dowels which there are stripped threads.

Bike Bandit has the dowels but I'm nervous about trying to remove the old one. It needs to come out in order to get to the threads that need a helicoil.

I'm also curious if a new dowel easily inserts or if it requires a pressed fitting.

[bluehwy]

No worries, my dumb arse grabbed some pliers and the dowel came right out...

[bluehwy]

After searching for an hour for an old post in "what did you wrench on today", deciding to move on and actually try to be productive...

I read somewhere in the forum that a member fabricated a brass sleeve when doing a helicoil in the cylinder head. I'm trying to understand his process. I'm assuming the sleeve was used as protection of the dowel portion of the hole. If anyone has dealt with a similar scenario I'd love to hear from you. I am at a stand still until I get the stripped threads repaired. Dying to hear my baby purr again...

[bonanzadave]

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Why don't you just use a longer bolt and put a nut on it ?

[bluehwy]

Thanks, bonanzadave, reckon I could, however, my bike is pretty clean and that seems a little crude to me. Maybe I'd feel better about it if she was a daily driver.

IMOP, the proper procedure would be to helicoil the stripped threads. We'll see though, may just end up doing as you mention... Might end up selling her to help pay taxes anyway.

[RichDesmond]

...Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

O'Malley

Leave the torque wrench in the bottom of the tool box. Seriously..

Especially on little bolts like that you have zero feel with a torque wrench and can't tell when the yield point is approaching.

Virtually all posts like yours on bike forums have one common denominator...the use of a torque wrench.

[bluehwy]

Point well taken, Rich!
Thanks!

[mrbill5491]

I had one strip on my bike at one time. I just use a slightly larger/longer threaded bolt (in that particular area) and worked like a charm. And yeah, don't use a torque wrench on those small bolts, you can do it better by feel.