Things coming undone.....

[riggsbie]

Is it me or do others suffer from this ??

I seem to be forever tweaking and tightening nuts'n'bolts of my bikes, is it the Victorian (Australia not old)coarse chip roads rattling my poor bikes to bits or something else ?

To date:

1. my front brake caliper decided to come off on the Musashi as the collar nut thing-a-me had not been correctly assembled with loctite - a little embarrassing as it jammed in the front forks and spat me off !

2. flag holder on my ICE Vortex - even with lock nuts fitted, have applied loctite as well as the lock nuts now....

3. bar end shifter allen bolts coming loose on the ICE Vortex....

4. this morning, trying a new rack bag and my trusty flashing back LED light decided it had had enough and committed suicide and jumped off the bag and under a car wheel......it was a particularly lumpy bit of road which was unavoidable due to the traffic

What tightening regimes do other people follow ?

Paul

 

[Edge705]

Dyu know what I never think to tighten anyhting up not even when servicing the bike but thinking about it last year the left hand crank came clean away I'd not torqued the bolts enough so based on your post Im gonna do the obligatory nut and bolt tensioning with each and every service from now on. I do have a terrible expensive way of maintaining bikes I tend to replace things before they need replacing perhpas thats why I dont need to tighten the bolts as such. Ive simply got to learn that when somethings mucky it dont mean it aint working and I need to learn to leave well alone

 

[byegad]

Bad roads will slacken things off, especially if they weren't exactly tight to begin with.We have plenty of them here in NE England.

The trouble with constant checking of tightness is you will, over time, over tighten every bolt that was not slack. Say every month you check everything. Bolt A is never slack and each time you check it you move it 5 degrees tighter. After a year it is 60 degrees tighter than it should be and after 6 years it will be a whole turn tighter. PLUS I think 5 degrees is an underestimation of what happens if you are 'just checking'.

Personally a better method is to use Loctite and a torque wrench and assemble every thing to the right torque value, then rely on the Loctite to keep it from moving. If you are worried about a component dropping off a drop of paint at the interface between bolt or nut and component will tell you if the bolt or nut is moving.

 

[markg0vbr]

funny that i have had some nuts loose lately as well i will have to get some loctite 1lt bottle should do it.
dab of pint/nail polish like bygad says sound like a good idea.

 

[Riding in Circles]

What amazes me is the people who never ever check anything then are completely aghast when something falls off, if it isn't welded it can come loose!

 

[BenM]

The only thing that comes loose on the Orca is the bold holding the rear mudguard to the frame. Unfortunately tightening that requires removal of the rear wheel. Grrrrr. Leave it to come loose and the mudguard will make awful rattling noises and eventually come away completely, potentially jamming in the wheel. Luckily the trip to/from work is just short enough that tightening it finger tight gets me to somewhere that I can address the issue in relative comfort!

Oh yes, it does have Loctite on the thread, but still it moves!

 

[byegad]

Ah! The blessed zip tie. Mmmmm!

 

[riggsbie]

I loctite everything now, even the lock-nuts !!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[arallsopp]

zip-ties, and nail varnish on the nuts. (oh, go on then...)

 

[BenM]

Couple of holes through the mudguard and a ziptie should sort that one.

Only need one more hole as the bolt already goes through the mudguard - though the bolt goes into a rubber rattle reducing grommet which may be where the wiggle loose is coming from... let me see if I can get a picture...
edit: here we are
This one shows the bolt head
and this one where it ends up. Not a lot of scope for a zip tie - those convenient holes you see are for when I decide to recline the seat a bit more.

 

[Riding in Circles]

You are probably using blue loctite at the moment, you should try red.

 

[BenM]

You are probably using blue loctite at the moment, you should try red.

That is probably it - I didn't put the bike together (lesson learned there I think...) and last time I took any bolt out I think it was blue Loctite.
/me off to the bolt shop for some red stuff

 

[Riding in Circles]

It is probably fine on nice smooth dutch cycle paths.

 

[henshaw11]

Are you *sure* you mean red loctite ? - isn't that the one used for stuff you really don't want to remove, like engine studs ?

"Loctite® Threadlocker Red 271™ is designed for the permanent locking and sealing of threaded fasteners. The product cures when confined in the absence of air between close fitting metal surfaces. It protects threads from rust and corrosion and prevents loosening from shock and vibration. It is only removable once cured by heating up parts to 500°F (260°C)."

 

[slowmotion]

^^^^^Wot he said^^^^^

Oh boy! Beware! Loctite do a huge range of thread, nut , and bearing lockers/adhesives. Some can be taken apart easily (like nail varnish) and some cannot without the application of some serious naked flames from a gas torch. Have a look at their website before deciding wich one to use. Please. I have come "unstuck" in this regard and would hate you to repeat my mistakes.