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Rear sprocket bolt question

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bigriver

Member
I'm replacing the stock wheels on my 08 fat boy with chrome disc wheels and on the rear a chrome sprocket cover with new chrome sprocket bolts. In the service manual it states to torque new bolts (not chrome) to 55-65 ft lbs. And that's all it says. But the instruction included with the chrome bolts says to add two to three drops of red loctite to the bolts and torque to 23 ft lbs. And then it says to tighten the bolts another 60 degrees (each point on the hex head bolt is 60 degrees from the next).

That seems like quite a difference in installing the bolts. Can anyone provide any insight into why there would be a such a difference? Also, I'm a little leary of using red loctite in case I need to remove the sprocket in the future. The idea of having to heat up the bolt to remove it doesn't seem like a good idea.

Appreciate any insight or advice on this.
 
bigriver said:
I'm replacing the stock wheels on my 08 fat boy with chrome disc wheels and on the rear a chrome sprocket cover with new chrome sprocket bolts. In the service manual it states to torque new bolts (not chrome) to 55-65 ft lbs. And that's all it says. But the instruction included with the chrome bolts says to add two to three drops of red loctite to the bolts and torque to 23 ft lbs. And then it says to tighten the bolts another 60 degrees (each point on the hex head bolt is 60 degrees from the next).

That seems like quite a difference in installing the bolts. Can anyone provide any insight into why there would be a such a difference? Also, I'm a little leary of using red loctite in case I need to remove the sprocket in the future. The idea of having to heat up the bolt to remove it doesn't seem like a good idea.

Appreciate any insight or advice on this.
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I would be confused also. You might try tighting one of the cromed bolts the 23ftlb and the 60* than check with your torque wrence to see how many ftlb it is tightened to. I also agree that adding heat to a cromed bolt will probably destroy the chrome. If it were me I would go with polished stainless.
 
HD has had that TYPE of Torquing down Especially on the heads.. I like Don here would Bet that the Torque in LBS and the 60 degrees would be CLOSE to the torque wrench... Right Now I'd Prefer the torque wrench and use BLUE lock-tight.. JMHO the way I would do it..

By the way, On the heads the tighten down to a torque then You Mark 90 degrees for the final torquing.. I still do the heads that way but Torque all others with the T. Wrench..

signed....BUBBIE

Morning all.:D
 
I just read an article about this the other day, but can't remember where it was. Like Bubbie said, the final torque value will be nearly the same. I'd also go with blue locktite instead of red.
 
As stated in the posts by Bubbie and Breeze, alot of torque now days is torque with degrees not just on head bolts, if you do not have a degree whell you can use a sharpie to make a mark
 
HDDon said:
I would be confused also. You might try tighting one of the cromed bolts the 23ftlb and the 60* than check with your torque wrence to see how many ftlb it is tightened to. I also agree that adding heat to a cromed bolt will probably destroy the chrome. If it were me I would go with polished stainless.
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Just a note here, the SS bolts are not the same hardness as the steel bolts. I would stay away from them on the wheels. JMHO.
 
Thanks to all those that responded to my message. I should probably say DUH to myself for not thinking about using the T wrench to see what the setting might be after adjusting the bolts for the 60 degrees.

Still wondering though why HD would recommend tightening the bolts in that manner instead of just saying use a particular torque range. Would it have to do with the type of bolt, say chrome vs. non chrome or some other reason? I'm definitely not a metalurgist (or good speller) or expert on bikes - more curious than anything else.

I also used blue loctite on the bolts. I'm pretty anal about thouroghly checking the bike all over before going on the road so I think I'd catch any looseness in the bolts if it should occur.

Thanks again and if anyone has any thoughts on the reasoning above I'd welcome your thoughts.
 
bigriver said:
I also used blue loctite on the bolts. I'm pretty anal about thouroghly checking the bike all over before going on the road so I think I'd catch any looseness in the bolts if it should occur.

Thanks again and if anyone has any thoughts on the reasoning above I'd welcome your thoughts.
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It would be a bit of work checking over the mount bolts in the rear sprocket with the cush drive because of the design. The mount bolts are under the top cover and would need dis assembly of the rear wheel to check them for torque.
 
My friend,

it seems that you are a littlle bit confused with the torque busisness. One thing is the torque stated in any given number of pounds and another one is the degree number, which is normally the second step in any given tightening operation, and it must be carried out with a special tool (clock degree dial). As far as I know there is no way as how to compare the pound torque vs. the degree torque. So each step MUST done with the proper tool.
With regards to the loctite drop to the bolts it is normally intented to avoid the loosening of them due to vibration, shocks, etc. and in any case it means that you will need a C4 explosive to remove them afterwords.
I hope this will be helpful to your inquiry.
best regards
cranupas
 
glider said:
It would be a bit of work checking over the mount bolts in the rear sprocket with the cush drive because of the design. The mount bolts are under the top cover and would need dis assembly of the rear wheel to check them for torque.
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Now you have me totally confused but that's nothing new for me. So please help me understand what I'm missing here. On the fat boy, the "sprocket" is bolted directly to a disc wheel. There's no top cover as you mention - the bolts are visible and accessable with the rear wheel mounted on the bike. That's why I went with chrome bolts. In fact, I could get a box wrench over each bolt if need be. Now I couldn't necessarily torque it while mounted and I would have to take the wheel off to do that.

Any clarification here would be appreciated.
 
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