When easy jobs go bad

[dern]

I went round the 950sm this afternoon replacing rusty bolts with clean ones and had almost finished when the bolt holding one part of the front mudguard snapped while being removed. Started to drill it out and the 2nd drill I used grabbed and snapped off. I then had to drill around the broken drill and open up the hole way beyond the M6 size... it felt like dentistry rather than working on a bike. I then lightly pinched up a rivnut in to the hole and the chemical metalled it in place. I think that it looks ok and will be hidden by the mudguard anyway. I wouldn't do this for any structural but for a piece of bodywork it'll be fine. The alternative is to buy a new fork leg which I wasn't about to do. Two hours I won't get back.

[KungFooBob]

The fix looks quite neat!

Hex head bolt looks rubbish tho'

[dern]

The bolt is just a temp to see if it all lined up.

[mangocrazy]

I'd call that a pretty good recovery. You'll never notice with it behind the mudgaurd. But get a button or flange head stainless allen bolt to replace the hex head...

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I decided to change the oil and filter on my car today, pretty easy, it has a spin on oil filter that's easy to get to, take the old filter off, throw it in the bin and then discover that the new filter is a 67mm one, not a 65 like the one that came off, I don't have a 67mm oil filter socket, and neither do any of the car spares shops that are open in Ipswich on a Sunday, despite them selling 67mm oil filters, but not selling 65mm oil filters, so I hooked the old filter out of the bin, fortunately it was clean because the bin was empty, and the old filter has gone back on. 67mm socket ordered from Amazon.

Just to be clear, the oil filter is easy to get to with a socket,but bloody difficult with a strap wrench.

[Skub]

I decided to change the oil and filter on my car today, pretty easy, it has a spin on oil filter that's easy to get to, take the old filter off, throw it in the bin and then discover that the new filter is a 67mm one, not a 65 like the one that came off, I don't have a 67mm oil filter socket, and neither do any of the car spares shops that are open in Ipswich on a Sunday, despite them selling 67mm oil filters, but not selling 65mm oil filters, so I hooked the old filter out of the bin, fortunately it was clean because the bin was empty, and the old filter has gone back on. 67mm socket ordered from Amazon.

Just to be clear, the oil filter is easy to get to with a socket,but bloody difficult with a strap wrench.

Good job you didn't punch a hole in the filter to remove!

[KungFooBob]

You only need a socket to remove them. I only ever put them on hand tight.

[MrLongbeard]

You only need a socket to remove them. I only ever put them on hand tight.

What he said, only ever by hand.

[BBB]

Glad I'm not the only one having a bad days tinkering. Went to put the recently oil changed forks back on. Torqued up the bottom yoke bolts 20nm then the top cap at 23nm then back down to 20nm for the top yoke. It kept turning without clicking or getting appreciably tighter. Backed it off checked the wrench on the bottom yoke to confirm. Still clicks so dropped the force to creep up on the bolt. There was a click this time, well more of a snap. Snapped the top yoke.

New yoke off ebay so time to remove the ignition barrel. Was able to drill the first security bolt and get an easy out located and extract the bolt. Second one resulted in a snapped extractor.

Brake refurb went OK though, despite the previous owner not bothering to fit any dust seals and gouging two of the pistons.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You only need a socket to remove them. I only ever put them on hand tight.

What he said, only ever by hand.

You can't get your hand on it to get a proper grip (plus I'm paranoid about the filter coming off, so I over tighten it)

[dern]

Glad I'm not the only one having a bad days tinkering. Went to put the recently oil changed forks back on. Torqued up the bottom yoke bolts 20nm then the top cap at 23nm then back down to 20nm for the top yoke. It kept turning without clicking or getting appreciably tighter. Backed it off checked the wrench on the bottom yoke to confirm. Still clicks so dropped the force to creep up on the bolt. There was a click this time, well more of a snap. Snapped the top yoke.

New yoke off ebay so time to remove the ignition barrel. Was able to drill the first security bolt and get an easy out located and extract the bolt. Second one resulted in a snapped extractor.

Brake refurb went OK though, despite the previous owner not bothering to fit any dust seals and gouging two of the pistons.

Ouch.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

New yoke off ebay so time to remove the ignition barrel. Was able to drill the first security bolt and get an easy out located and extract the bolt. Second one resulted in a snapped extractor.

Cut the snapped yoke off the security bolt.

[BBB]

New yoke off ebay so time to remove the ignition barrel. Was able to drill the first security bolt and get an easy out located and extract the bolt. Second one resulted in a snapped extractor.

Cut the snapped yoke off the security bolt.

I'm hoping to flip the yoke today to get better access to the recessed security bolt, have some burrs for the dremel to either grind a slot in the top or grind away enough of the bolt flange to release it. The connection for the swith is buried under the tank and airbox and I really cba to take all that off.

[wull]

I went through a spell about 15 years ago where every single easy job turned into an absolute nightmare. The best one was on a Vauxhall Combo van that I had at the time, the CPS failed so I purchased another one and when removing the old one the mount for it which was part of the block snapped clean off rendering it absolutely cunted!

[BBB]

Managed to flip the yoke over with the slack in the ignition wiring. Used the burr to give me enough of an edge to tap the nut round with a thin drift.

Nearly made things even worse in my haste to remove the yoke. Forgot that without the forks fitted the lock stops only work on the bottom yoke. Spotted that as I started to turn the breaker bar and the yoke very gently tapped the tank.

Still feeling pleased with myself though.

[Supermofo]

You only need a socket to remove them. I only ever put them on hand tight.

I've always done this.

Was watching a bloke do a GSXS oil change on youtube and he said you need to put a socket on it and turn it 2 complete revolutions from hand tight. which sounded well OTT and indeed in the end he didn't go that tight as he bottled it. When my bike arrived I checked the handbook and it's what Suzuki recommend! 2 complete turns or 23NM which sounds a lot for an oil filter. Don't think I'd do it up that tight.

[iansoady]

Hand tight plus half a turn for me and never had any trouble getting them off again.

[Rockburner]

Hand tight plus half a turn for me and never had any trouble getting them off again.

I always smear new oil around the rubber seal and do it a little over hand-tight: ie use the tool, but 'just' tight. Using the proper 'socket' tool means that the old filter doesn't deform and comes off cleanly.

[mangocrazy]

You only need a socket to remove them. I only ever put them on hand tight.

I've always done this.

Was watching a bloke do a GSXS oil change on youtube and he said you need to put a socket on it and turn it 2 complete revolutions from hand tight. which sounded well OTT and indeed in the end he didn't go that tight as he bottled it. When my bike arrived I checked the handbook and it's what Suzuki recommend! 2 complete turns or 23NM which sounds a lot for an oil filter. Don't think I'd do it up that tight.

23Nm for an oil filter is nuts. That's the torque for an M8 bolt. If I was using a torque wrench it would be 10-12Nm max. But like most on here I do it up as tight as I reasonably can by hand and no more.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I've got a couple of filter strap/chain type wrenches.

Honestly can't remember the last time I used one! I've always done them up by hand and it must be at least 10 years since I came across one I couldn't also undo by hand. They tend to get undone fairly often after all, it's not like they have much chance to get properly shitty and crusted on.

Fair play if you've got one of those annoying engines where they're recessed down an 'ole though.