Triple tree pinch bolt torque values

arcticXS

XS650 Guru
Top Contributor
Messages
2,132
Reaction score
3,371
Points
263
Location
Tromsoe, Norway
All, in my Haynes manual, the torque for the XS650D upper and lower triple pinch bolts are specified to 10Nm/ 7.2 foot pounds for UK models, and 6-9 foot pounds for US MODELS.
All 7 of these pinch bolts are M8, which normally is torqued to 20Nm/ 14.4 foot pounds, if grade 8.8 which is most common. I currently use Grade 5 Ti bolts from Pro-bolt.

10 Nm just seems too low to me, especially for this location. Any opinions? Any problems likely to occur if using 20Nm?
 
Yes, the bolt itself would take much more, but what they spec works and they don't want you to stretch the aluminum until the gap is gone, or deform the hollow tubes.

P.S. the factory manual specs 8.0 ft. lbs. for my '81 and for that I use a torque wrench and I'm always careful to not go over that. It's plenty.
The same manual says 10.0 ft. lbs. for the axle holder down at the bottom of the fork (not the axle nut itself). That's another one where the bolt could take more but there's a gap that would deform and close if you went over.
 
Last edited:
I've done some front end work lately and checked lots of the manuals for the torque specs. Yes, they vary a bit over the years. I've settled on 7-11, 7 for the top 3 that go through the alloy top tree and 11 for the bottom tree clamp bolts because they go into steel. And 7-11 is easy for me to remember because of the 7-11 convenience store chain we used to have around here, also easy for my $5 brain to retain, lol.

But I'm going to add - later manuals do call out 14.5 ft/lbs for the lower tree bolts. They also bumped the top 3 to 8.
 
Last edited:
Yes. "under bracket and inner tube" i.e. lower tree bolts -- 14.5 for an '81.
I doubt anyone can just estimate the right tightness for any of these unless they do these all the time, because they don't really feel tight.
 
Back
Top