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Am I Pete? fighting the bolts!


yen_powell

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I thought I would fit my Altrider bash plate today. I had everything set up. Attempted to give myself a hernia moving the bike ramp more to the centre of the garage to give more room around the front of the bike and then on attempt number 5 managed to get the XT onto it with a shorter run up than usual. Had the music on, a cup of tea, really good paper instructions and I'd watched the installation video which is most excellent. I was all set.

Firstly. off came the plastic excuse for a bash plate, then the two alloy brackets that it mounts to, all going well, tea only halfway down, bagged the bits and labelled them. Then the next task was to remove the two allen bolts holding the side stand bracket on. I started hopefully with a ratchet and and allen bit socket. Hmmmm, that seems a bit tight. Switched to a 3/8 breaker bar. More hmmmmming, the breaker bar was starting to curve a little and a small vein was showing on my forehead I reckon. The I got out that impact driver, the really cheap one I got in my teens, at a market probably. Much kerbangingin time to the music but nothing is moving.

Time for the next stage, Roxette by Dr Feelgood came on just as I plugged in my B&Q electric paint stripper and gave one of the bolts a going over for about 30 seconds, back in with the impact driver and club hammer, nothing. Then a full minute of heat gun and tried again, it started to move thank god. A minute on the other one and that started to move. At one point I though the bike would rotate the opposite way if I put any more force into my hammer. Removed the two bolts and bagged them when they were cool.

Side stand now only supported by the electrical connection, so I found something for it lay on and switched sides to the exhaust hanger bolts that needed to come out. Tea now drunk, Nightboat to Cairo by Madness is playing, love that song. A 10mm bolt about 4 inches long and a smaller 8mm bolt came out with no arguments. Time to start fitting the first bash plate bracket bolts in their place. I found the two replacement bolts which are slightly longer to allow for the thickness of the brackets. The larger one goes in and I start to turn it, but it doesn't feel right. I always put bolts in by hand so as not to wreck a thread and it wouldn't even start. I took it back out and compared it to the Yamaha original. I'm no thread expert and I have middle aged eyes these days but the pitch looked closer together on the original bolt. Bad picture below, the grubby one is obviously the original bolt. I found a nut that would run down the Altrider bolt, it wouldn't go near the Yamaha one. Anyway, out came the plastic bags and I refitted everything. I've emailed the manufacturer for advice. Worst case scenario, I buy my own bolt, but I could have wrecked the thread on the bike if I'd gone in gung ho with a ratchet.

image.png.ab149f9878629b52ebe8d46501a66ccc.png

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2 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I thought I would fit my Altrider bash plate today. I had everything set up. Attempted to give myself a hernia moving the bike ramp more to the centre of the garage to give more room around the front of the bike and then on attempt number 5 managed to get the XT onto it with a shorter run up than usual. Had the music on, a cup of tea, really good paper instructions and I'd watched the installation video which is most excellent. I was all set.

Firstly. off came the plastic excuse for a bash plate, then the two alloy brackets that it mounts to, all going well, tea only halfway down, bagged the bits and labelled them. Then the next task was to remove the two allen bolts holding the side stand bracket on. I started hopefully with a ratchet and and allen bit socket. Hmmmm, that seems a bit tight. Switched to a 3/8 breaker bar. More hmmmmming, the breaker bar was starting to curve a little and a small vein was showing on my forehead I reckon. The I got out that impact driver, the really cheap one I got in my teens, at a market probably. Much kerbangingin time to the music but nothing is moving.

Time for the next stage, Roxette by Dr Feelgood came on just as I plugged in my B&Q electric paint stripper and gave one of the bolts a going over for about 30 seconds, back in with the impact driver and club hammer, nothing. Then a full minute of heat gun and tried again, it started to move thank god. A minute on the other one and that started to move. At one point I though the bike would rotate the opposite way if I put any more force into my hammer. Removed the two bolts and bagged them when they were cool.

Side stand now only supported by the electrical connection, so I found something for it lay on and switched sides to the exhaust hanger bolts that needed to come out. Tea now drunk, Nightboat to Cairo by Madness is playing, love that song. A 10mm bolt about 4 inches long and a smaller 8mm bolt came out with no arguments. Time to start fitting the first bash plate bracket bolts in their place. I found the two replacement bolts which are slightly longer to allow for the thickness of the brackets. The larger one goes in and I start to turn it, but it doesn't feel right. I always put bolts in by hand so as not to wreck a thread and it wouldn't even start. I took it back out and compared it to the Yamaha original. I'm no thread expert and I have middle aged eyes these days but the pitch looked closer together on the original bolt. Bad picture below, the grubby one is obviously the original bolt. I found a nut that would run down the Altrider bolt, it wouldn't go near the Yamaha one. Anyway, out came the plastic bags and I refitted everything. I've emailed the manufacturer for advice. Worst case scenario, I buy my own bolt, but I could have wrecked the thread on the bike if I'd gone in gung ho with a ratchet.

image.png.ab149f9878629b52ebe8d46501a66ccc.png

Bolts? Unable to advise!

steve coogan shrug GIF

Feelgood? I advise some Lee Brilleaux....

 

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7 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

Yen, get yourself one of these.    One of the best things I ever bought.  It has bolt size gauge, thread gauge and length.

https://www.pro-bolt.com/progauge-bolt-measuring-tool/

 

 

I think I will, thank you for the link. I normally press the bolts together and the threads fit together, locking into each other.

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43 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I thought I would fit my Altrider bash plate today. I had everything set up. Attempted to give myself a hernia moving the bike ramp more to the centre of the garage to give more room around the front of the bike and then on attempt number 5 managed to get the XT onto it with a shorter run up than usual. Had the music on, a cup of tea, really good paper instructions and I'd watched the installation video which is most excellent. I was all set.

Firstly. off came the plastic excuse for a bash plate, then the two alloy brackets that it mounts to, all going well, tea only halfway down, bagged the bits and labelled them. Then the next task was to remove the two allen bolts holding the side stand bracket on. I started hopefully with a ratchet and and allen bit socket. Hmmmm, that seems a bit tight. Switched to a 3/8 breaker bar. More hmmmmming, the breaker bar was starting to curve a little and a small vein was showing on my forehead I reckon. The I got out that impact driver, the really cheap one I got in my teens, at a market probably. Much kerbangingin time to the music but nothing is moving.

Time for the next stage, Roxette by Dr Feelgood came on just as I plugged in my B&Q electric paint stripper and gave one of the bolts a going over for about 30 seconds, back in with the impact driver and club hammer, nothing. Then a full minute of heat gun and tried again, it started to move thank god. A minute on the other one and that started to move. At one point I though the bike would rotate the opposite way if I put any more force into my hammer. Removed the two bolts and bagged them when they were cool.

Side stand now only supported by the electrical connection, so I found something for it lay on and switched sides to the exhaust hanger bolts that needed to come out. Tea now drunk, Nightboat to Cairo by Madness is playing, love that song. A 10mm bolt about 4 inches long and a smaller 8mm bolt came out with no arguments. Time to start fitting the first bash plate bracket bolts in their place. I found the two replacement bolts which are slightly longer to allow for the thickness of the brackets. The larger one goes in and I start to turn it, but it doesn't feel right. I always put bolts in by hand so as not to wreck a thread and it wouldn't even start. I took it back out and compared it to the Yamaha original. I'm no thread expert and I have middle aged eyes these days but the pitch looked closer together on the original bolt. Bad picture below, the grubby one is obviously the original bolt. I found a nut that would run down the Altrider bolt, it wouldn't go near the Yamaha one. Anyway, out came the plastic bags and I refitted everything. I've emailed the manufacturer for advice. Worst case scenario, I buy my own bolt, but I could have wrecked the thread on the bike if I'd gone in gung ho with a ratchet.

image.png.ab149f9878629b52ebe8d46501a66ccc.png

plusgas needed

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Just had an email from across the pond apologising and offering to Fedex a replacement bolt today. I can't argue with the speed of response seeing as I only emailed on Saturday afternoon.

 

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1 hour ago, yen_powell said:

Just had an email from across the pond apologising and offering to Fedex a replacement bolt today. I can't argue with the speed of response seeing as I only emailed on Saturday afternoon.

 

That simple reply will give you confidence to use them again i know it would with me 

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My replacement bolt was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday.

I also had my second half of a pallet strapped to the back of my bike. The two half pallets together make it a doddle to ride the bike straight on to my ramp without worrying about falling over sideways if my feet miss the edge. I can still push it up if I ever had a dead engine bike to work on, but that can take a few attempts and was always a bit worrying as you nearly made it fully on only to have to cope with it going back down the ramp before trying again. They also made putting it on the centre stand much easier.

So bike is ready at a comfy height, I have my replacement bolt, it'll be tea and music time later on today then a ride about to make sure nothing is going to drop off!

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It's on, only had a single washer left over as well!!!!

Lost two sockets somehow. The good thing about having my sockets and ratchets in order on those plastic things is that I know when something is missing and what it was. One was a hex/allen socket which had I found had stayed in the side stand monster bolts that I had trouble undoing at the very start of this thread. One down two to go.

The other was a 6 sided 14mm socket. I knew it had dropped off of one of the bolts as I was working round the skid plate tightening fasteners and it was easier to get a 12 sided 14mm and carry on and I thought I would look for it afterwards. I hadn't seen exactly where it went to but  it hadn't sounded like it went far or even on the floor if you know what I mean. I did about 5 circuits of the bench with a torch, even rechecked all my magnetic dishes in case it had stuck underneath. Finally it occurred to me that I hadn't looked inside the new bash plate.....that's where it was. Long screwdriver pokey time to get it within reach.

 

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Went out for a brief ride to make sure all was well and that my side stand was not going to fall off. The bash plate reverberates a bit so I stopped once to make sure all the bolts were tight in case I'd missed one, but no, looks like that is just what it does. 

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8 hours ago, XTreme said:

Nice shots Yen! But why do you insist on covering it in shit? :classic_unsure:

Just to get your knickers in a twist Pete.....you should know that by now.?

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