Tightening bolts

[Staffan]

I've been going through the list of bolts to be tightened yearly, according to the service manual.

I have tightened most of them, but have a few that I don't know how to tighten.

1. Steering stem head nut. I need to remove the handle bar if I am to reach this nut with the torque wrench. Also, it looks like I should use a screw driver to hold the steering stem. Not sure if this is needed.

2. Steering stem lock-nut. To reach this one, I would need to remove all plastic covers around the handle bar. Also, there's no way to tighten this using a torque wrench.

3. Swingarm pivot lock-nut. This seems to be a special nut. Not sure what kind of tool is needed for this. You can hold the bolt with a hex tool, but not sure about the nut.

4. Rear shock absorber upper mounting nut. How can I reach this one? The lower mounting nut was easy, but the upper one seems impossible to reach..


Apart from these, I managed to tighten all nuts. Most didn't need tightening, but the swingarm nut and some of the break hose union bolts needed some tightening, as well as all the front fork clamp bolts.

Not sure if the previous owner used to tighten all of these yearly, but it feels good to know that they are now tightened according to the service manual.

[tallpaul]

I've never gone over my bikes tightening bolts. They usually stay tight if they are torqued up correctly. Are you using a torque wrench? If not you risk over-tightening the fasteners, especially the hydraulic banjo bolts. My advice is if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

[Staffan]

Quote removed

Yes, I'm using a torque wrench. Just following the procedure in the service manual. As I said, most bolts are already at the correct torque, so nothing is changed. But I found some bolts and nuts that really needed tightening, like the swingarm nut and some of the brake hose bolts.

[wurzel]

  It is admirable that you are doing this, most people don't, including me,unless I have already taken things apart.

[Rusty Nuts]

Be aware some torque settings in some Suzuki manuals are incorrect. Greywolf had a list somewhere of mistakes and corrections.

[Relevant11]

Swinging arm nuts always seem to slacken off especially on dirt bikes,
 A lot of movement in all planes I guess.