Snapped the drain plug!

[simon1221]

Godamn

I started screwing the bolt in using the torque wrench when it was already past the required setting and then it snapped in half.

Looks like im going nowhere fast
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DNA50 (sorry) ->> TZR125l >> GPZ500S

[Scotsman37]

[simon1221]

I started with a normal wrench.

And then used the torque wrench
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DNA50 (sorry) ->> TZR125l >> GPZ500S

[Git]

I would give the bike to someone that knows what they are doing, or at least watch someone that knows what they are doing, if you can snap a sump plug god help the top end.
Sorry if that sounds nasty, but...hmm

[simon1221]

Im not usually this careless.

Ive just had a bad day, thats all.
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DNA50 (sorry) ->> TZR125l >> GPZ500S

[G]

Did you replace the copper washer?

You are supposed to replace teh copper washer every time. The washer compreses the first time you do it up, this takes some of the pressure off the thread. The next time you use the same washer, the thread will take more pressure for the same torque because the washer will not compress.

I have seen washers welded to the bolt before (thanks to McSchitty), I eventually mashed the thread and had to helicoil it.

If it's just the bolt that has broken off, you may be lucky. The bolt should comeout relatively easily now, though will take a bit of fiddling. New one with washer shouldn't be more than a couple of quid.

It is quite suprising how much torque you can exert with a medium sized wrench.

[simon1221]

Will i be able to get it easily or will i have to order it?

Can i just tip the bike on its side to get it out? or will it be screwed in?
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DNA50 (sorry) ->> TZR125l >> GPZ500S

[Scotsman37]

You can actually buy screw/bolt removers from any good car/motorcycle tools stockist.

[Flip]

Argos sell kits for removing broken bolts etc. Don't know how good they are but they're £20.

[BlueNinja]

[simon1221]

The torque setting was so low anyway I could easily have gone past it without knowing.

What is in the Argos kit? Will I have to just drill it out?
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DNA50 (sorry) ->> TZR125l >> GPZ500S

[Flip]

Don't know. You'll just have to get youself a catalogue and have a look.

[sickpup]

Unless you cross threaded it it will be easy to remove with one finger.

[mchaggis]

Hrm. Torque wrenches and torque settings are all very well and good, but tightening purely according to what they say can't be the best way all the time. There are a lot of bolts which don't need to be supertight, only things like brake calipers, engine parts and a few things like that really need to be accurately highly torqued.

For the most part, I do things up until I can't do them up very easily any more, then do another half turn. Feeling how tight it is seems better to me than relying on the torque wrench and tightening until it clicks, no matter how tight that is. After all, the torque applied to the nut/ bolt is only vaguely connected to the clamping force, the thing which actually matters. The clamping load is applied as a result of the extension of the bolt. What torque you apply to get a particular clamping force is never very constant and innaccurate at best.

For critical things in industry they tighten them according to their length, and measure the bolt length with ultrasound as they go along to work out much clamping force it is generating. Torque is a little basic.

It can be looked at similarly to Hookes law, F=kx.
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I must not be a troll...
Mmmm, Guinness
Discovering the delights of Hammerite and a 3/4" brush.

[CcB]

I dunno i tend to just have a feel for it. i have a torque wrench but rarly use it

[G]

mchaggis:
I find I almost always do stuff up too tightly compared to what a torque wrench suggests I should be doing.

I tend to hold spanners/wrenches at the base if I know it's a low torque bolt as it's easy enouch to apply 100ft-lb+ with a larger wrench held at the end.

[Scotsman37]

Do you remember where you bought your torque wrench because if you bought it as it was cheap, then it was no doubt made of cheap quality material. The calibration is probably is way off now since it was sold originally.

Buy a decent one and if I remember correctly they cost from about £30 upwards to £100+ and Halfords' own torque wrench at £50 got a recommended stamp of approval in the RIDE magazine for being a good buy.

Halfords torque wrench - settings from 8nm to 60nm

https://www.halfords.com/opd_product_details.asp?id=16587&type=0&cat=71

That torque wrench sold at Argos is NO good for bikes because it's calibration settings are not low enough to cover several areas of a bike including the drain plug.

The argos torque wrench's lowest setting is only 30nm and so no good for bikes.

There's a trick to using the torque - you go for the 3 - 5nm settings lower from the recommended and work your way up to the recommended torque setting stated in the book. That way you avoid the possibility of shearing the head off the bolt in case the recommended setting is not correct either that calibration on your torque wrench is off by a greater margin.

So in addition to your set of tools for bigger nm settings usually for swing arm pivot nut, etc and cars too which covers from 28nm to 210nm for those occasional bigger jobs https://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp;jsessionid=3IJR1555CF3O1CJO2C4CIIQ?_dyncharset=UTF-8&q=torque+wrench&n=&pn=1&pd=1&pi=1&cn=1&cd=1&x=0&y=0


screw extractor set - search by the 'S' at the bottom and you'll find it there listed.

https://www.smt-tools.co.uk/shop.php

or this one instead

https://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp;jsessionid=3IJR1555CF3O1CJO2C4CIIQ?_dyncharset=UTF-8&q=screw+remover&n=&pn=1&pd=1&pi=1&cn=1&cd=1&x=0&y=0