Re-torquing a newly installed head

Overdog · Post by **Overdog** » Sat May 16, 2015 8:52 pm

Ok...I know you need to re-torque the head after the bike has been running. Is bringing the bike up to operating temp. several times in the garage good enough or does it really need to be ridden for awhile first? I should have the bike running in a day or two but the front end and fairing still have to be re-installed. I could fire the bike up each time I go out to work on the other stuff

Old Fogey · Post by **Old Fogey** » Sat May 16, 2015 9:05 pm

I can hear the howls of protest, but I don't believe in the re-torquing of heads. I never have done it, and I get no head gasket troubles.
If you have used good quality head gaskets, greased the head bolt threads and heads, and torqued them down to the correct setting in the correct incremental sequence, that should be enough.
There is no recommendation to do it in any of the manuals; not even in my Clymer Book-of-Lies!

ct1500 · Post by **ct1500** » Sun May 17, 2015 4:33 am

Unless specified by a manufacturer re-torque is an absolute not.

Old Fogey · Post by **Old Fogey** » Sun May 17, 2015 6:44 am

ct1500 wrote:Unless specified by a manufacturer re-torque is an absolute not.

I'm marking this day down on the diary! Someone agreed with me (for once)!

dingdong · Post by **dingdong** » Sun May 17, 2015 7:45 am

I'm no expert mechanic so I can't say one way or the other what is correct. However I did re-torque mine. Head gasket replacement from Randakksblog. See #18 for re-torque. http://www.randakksblog.com/gl1000-gl11 ... t-details/

Re-torquing a newly installed head

Re-torquing a newly installed head

Re: Re-torquing a newly installed head

Re: Re-torquing a newly installed head

Re: Re-torquing a newly installed head

Re: Re-torquing a newly installed head