first time helicoil experience

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ross46
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first time helicoil experience

Post by ross46 »

Right, about 6 months ago I was taking the forks apart to change the oil and grease the headstock bearings. As I tried to remove the bolt on the top yoke that clamps the bolt the giraffe snapped. Right, fag and cup of tea to stop me throwing something, calm down take the top yoke off, take it round to a mates house and used his pillar drill to drill the bolt out, it workedand I got it right so I just picked out the remnants of the bolt (titanium nitride dormer drill bits are awesome!). Put it back on and it worked. Then last week found the bolt had stripped out. So thought I would try a helicoil kit, never used one before but I didn't have anything to lose

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380715107239?redirect=mobile

Bought this, turned up in 2 days, got it today and had a go. The hole was awkward to drill because I had to go through the clamp, I kept stepping up the drill bits (not advised, blunts the edges) as the supplied kept binding. So then got the tap out, coated with oil and tapped the hole after cleaning it out, half a turn forward then quarter turn back to break the swarf. Cleaned the hole out again, got the insert, coated with red loctite, then using the took wound it in so there so the insert wad half a thread below the surface, took the tool out and using the punch, broke of the tang, left for 10 minutes and then put the bolt I and it worked lovely.

So that's how its put in, I think its a nice little kit to have in your toolkit. Some say timeserts are better but have not tried them. I thing i was worried about was the insert coming out, the torque value is 20Nm, as a test I did up to 50Nm and it was fine, would use again, if there are any problems I'll report back, hope this helps someone who is looking for some information
cargo
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Re: first time helicoil experience

Post by cargo »

the bolt on top of the yoke that clamps the bolt ???????
ross46
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Re: first time helicoil experience

Post by ross46 »

the bolt that clamps the bolt? confuddled

http://www.kawasakioriginalparts.com/ka ... 1995&ca=GB

bolt 92150, the 50Nm torque was a check of the strength. bearing in mind i never used a helicoil before and the yoke was close to useless, the helicoil was a last resort before buying a new one. So to check that it wasn't going to break i torqued it up to 50Nm to see if it would hold, then undid the bolt checked there was no movement of the helicoil and the bolt didnt start to wobble, then put a new bolt in and torqued to 20Nm. i would have rathered that if the helicoil wasn't strong enough that it broke outside my house on paddock stands rather than halfway on my favourite roundabouts and the hill i enjoy getting the bike airborn. So i haven't messed up and done the bolt to 50Nm and left it... but thankyou for your concern cargo :smt003
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