Torque Wrench

[RFW&LMW]

I just bought a 1995 Goldwing SE. I have been reading some of the how-to articles & it would appear a torque wrench is a must for working on the bike. I plan on doing as much of my own service as possible & would like to know what size is needed & what the maximum torque would be required. Any help would be appreciated. I would assume all fittings would be Metric?

New to Goldwing!
Many Thanks:
Roy W.

[dingdong]

My torque wrenches are 1/2 inch drive for larger nuts along with a 3/8 adapter for smaller nuts. If I remember correctly on the gl1500 the rear axle nut torque is 80 ft lbs. I think that is the max necessary. Yes everything is metric except for some add on accessories.

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks for the info Tom, being new I need all the help I can get.

Ride Safe:
Regards Roy

[Bamaeagle]

Hey Roy,

Tom is correct 80 ft/lbs is the most you will need. Just make sure you get a good quality torque wrench. As the saying goes "you get what you pay for". If you need any manuals be sure to look them up on this site under the manual tab.

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks for the reply Jerry.

Ride Safe:
Roy

[mrtwowheel]

I don't use a torque wrench often but some things I always use them on. Some things like the front end and drive train require a sequence of tightening. I'll always use one on front end, chassis, brakes, axles, drive train, engine and others. Knowing where to use anti-seize can come in handy too. Threading a fastener into aluminum parts should always be done with caution. Using mostly 6 point sockets and box end wrenches is a good habit to have. Can't remember when the last time I used a crescent wrench was. My brother-in-law can do anything with just a crescent wrench, pair of pliers and a hammer.

Scott

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks for the reply Scott it all sounds like good advice.

Ride Safe:
Regards Roy.

[Viking]

Watch the Canadian Tire Flyer (as all males in Canada do) and quite often they have their Mastercraft Ultimate torque wrenches on discounted. You can pick up a 3/8 for about $69.95 and it is as good a quality as you need. In future, you could also pick up a 1/2 for about $89.95 and you would be set for life for all torque chores.

[WingAdmin]

One of the primary causes of warped brake rotors on today's cars is incorrectly torqued lug nuts. Almost all modern cars use a lug nut torque value of 100 ft-lb, so if you are going to buy a torque wrench, buy one that can do 100 ft-lb, and you can then use it to torque your car's lug nuts as well.

You should do fine with a 1/2" drive wrench.

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks for the reply WingAdmin very much appreciated.

Ride Safe:
Regards Roy

[cbx4evr]

I haven't seen too many 1/2" drive torque wrenches around here that only go to 100#. Maybe Snap-On sells one but it will be very expensive. Most are in the range of 20# - 150 or 250#. I've got a couple of different 1/2" torque wrenches but the one I like the most is a Mastercraft unit from Cdn. Tire. It's been a great wrench and have had no problems with it. Friend, who is a mechanic, took it to work and put it on their calibrator and it was within spec after years of use.

And you are in luck. They are on sale this week:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/tools ... kplr3pfOrU

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks for the info cbx4evr, you can always trust Canadian Tire.
Ride Safe:
Roy

[Viking]

Something that has not been addressed about torque wrenches, is that with the adjustable kind, after use, they should be returned to zero prior to storing. This makes them stay calibrated longer.

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks again.

Ride Safe:
Roy

[Uncle Fester]

Torque wrench ? What is this ? My hands are finely tuned instaments for tightening a nut, bolt, or screw.... Now where did I put that damn bolt extracter and rethread kit ?

Seriously, a 1/2" drive that goes to 150# and a 3/8 that goes to the same, plus a GOOD QUALITY 6pt socket set and a GOOD QUALITY combo wrench set, will do you just fine, oh, and down load the FSM as suggested above !

[RFW&LMW]

Hey, thanks for the feedback Uncle Fester.

Ride Safe:
Regards Roy

[Joe_]

With torque wrenches I either buy good ones, snap-on or CDI or really cheap wrenches of the bending beam type such as those made by Craftsman tools.
Good wrenches keep their calibration and bending beam wrenches do not need to be re calibrated once they have been made to pass their initial calibration.
I'll rephrase that. As long as a bending beam wrenches pointer still returns to zero under no load the wrench is still in calibration.
The bending beam wrenches are more difficult to use because you must be looking at the pointer from directly above it. This can be very difficult if not impossible to do at times but at least they are accurate. Which is why I often use them.

There is no guarantee that a cheap wrench will hold it's calibration. The Chinese can do wonderful machine work but generally like to be paid for it. High quality springs and heat treating are expensive no matter what country they are manufactured in. When you ask the Chinese to make cheap stuff you often get what you pay for, cheap copies where corners have been cut in materials, heat treating and machining during manufacturing.

If you have a calibration dept at work or a lab in the city you live in that can check the calibration on the wrench every couple of years that's not a problem. However where I live we don't have those resources. So I buy good and pricey, or good and cheap when it comes to torque wrenches. However I personally stay away from cheap clones of good wrenches.

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks Joe for the in-put, good advise for a torque novice.

Ride Safe:
Regards Roy

[WingAdmin]

With torque wrenches I either buy good ones, snap-on or CDI or really cheap wrenches of the bending beam type such as those made by Craftsman tools.
Good wrenches keep their calibration and bending beam wrenches do not need to be re calibrated once they have been made to pass their initial calibration.
I'll rephrase that. As long as a bending beam wrenches pointer still returns to zero under no load the wrench is still in calibration.
The bending beam wrenches are more difficult to use because you must be looking at the pointer from directly above it. This can be very difficult if not impossible to do at times but at least they are accurate. Which is why I often use them.

There is no guarantee that a cheap wrench will hold it's calibration. The Chinese can do wonderful machine work but generally like to be paid for it. High quality springs and heat treating are expensive no matter what country they are manufactured in. When you ask the Chinese to make cheap stuff you often get what you pay for, cheap copies where corners have been cut in materials, heat treating and machining during manufacturing.

If you have a calibration dept at work or a lab in the city you live in that can check the calibration on the wrench every couple of years that's not a problem. However where I live we don't have those resources. So I buy good and pricey, or good and cheap when it comes to torque wrenches. However I personally stay away from cheap clones of good wrenches.

I will occasionally fasten my "click" torque wrenches to my beam torque wrench, and try several different values on the click wrench, ensuring that the value shown on the beam wrench is the same as what the click wrench is set to when it clicks. Cheap calibration check.

[RFW&LMW]

Thanks again WingAdmin, you have a great site for sure.

Ride safe:
Regards Roy

[Bluewaterhooker0]

I will occasionally fasten my "click" torque wrenches to my beam torque wrench, and try several different values on the click wrench, ensuring that the value shown on the beam wrench is the same as what the click wrench is set to when it clicks. Cheap calibration check.

Wingadmin,
How do you rig that up ? 2 sockets set over a couple of nuts on threaded rod, with the sockets facing each other ? Or, am I missing an easier method that is obvious to a person of greater intellect ?

[Viking]

Wingadmin,
How do you rig that up ? 2 sockets set over a couple of nuts on threaded rod, with the sockets facing each other ? Or, am I missing an easier method that is obvious to a person of greater intellect ?

I too would be interested in how you are fastening torque wrenches together. You have great out of the box thinking, but I am a more traditional thinker. I have both click and beam torque wrenches, and so would love to be able to do this cheap and easy calibration check.

[WingAdmin]

Wingadmin,
How do you rig that up ? 2 sockets set over a couple of nuts on threaded rod, with the sockets facing each other ? Or, am I missing an easier method that is obvious to a person of greater intellect ?

I too would be interested in how you are fastening torque wrenches together. You have great out of the box thinking, but I am a more traditional thinker. I have both click and beam torque wrenches, and so would love to be able to do this cheap and easy calibration check.

A very short piece of 1/2" square tube welding stock:

The one I have has thicker walls than what's shown in that picture. I cut it short to prevent it from twisting, and to keep the wrenches as close to one another as possible. One wrench in each end, and that's about it!

[Joe_]

I will occasionally fasten my "click" torque wrenches to my beam torque wrench, and try several different values on the click wrench, ensuring that the value shown on the beam wrench is the same as what the click wrench is set to when it clicks. Cheap calibration check.

That's a great check.

For 3/8 drive wrenches an adapter for a distributor wrench set like this one: http://www.tractorpartsasap.com/Distrib ... fgodB_ML4w

would work. The knurled sleeve on the one wrench pictured is a 3/8 sq to 3/8 sq female adapter. You might even find one in the junk drawer of a used tool buyer/seller.

[WingAdmin]

I will occasionally fasten my "click" torque wrenches to my beam torque wrench, and try several different values on the click wrench, ensuring that the value shown on the beam wrench is the same as what the click wrench is set to when it clicks. Cheap calibration check.

That's a great check.

For 3/8 drive wrenches an adapter for a distributor wrench set like this one: http://www.tractorpartsasap.com/Distrib ... fgodB_ML4w

would work. The knurled sleeve on the one wrench pictured is a 3/8 sq to 3/8 sq female adapter. You might even find one in the junk drawer of a used tool buyer/seller.

The problem with that is that they are offset:

That increases the torque, because of the leverage given by the offset. You need to have the drives of both wrenches directly in line with one another.

You could technically just put them together and then tighten the jaws of a crescent wrench around them both to hold them together, and to make sure one applies torque to the other. Just make sure the crescent wrench stays parallel to the ground, so that the weight of it does not exert excess torque (i.e. keep one torque wrench directly above the other).