AHH!! scary thing #172... rear tank bolt coming loose...

[MrDude_1]

mmk so lastnight im out riding home, when i notice this truck looks like he might run the redlight across my path.
no biggie i cover the brake and check the mirror, just in case....
sure enough, he reaches the point of no return, then slams on the brake... basiclly making him STOP infront of me.


but im Mr Badass with Dual floating 320mm brakes and a sticky 120 front... no big deal right?

BZZZZZZT that nice fimilar hum of the crossdrilled brakes doing their job.. my knees squeeze the tank helping hold myself as i come to a very swift stop.

**POP!!!**


i slip forward an inch or so as im almost stopped.. im sure for that moment, my heart stopped too.

WTF was that?!

my seating position (basiclly its balls on tank) feels odd. the scallopps in the tank dont seem to hold me in place like they should....

i turn into my neighborhood and check out the bike.... the threads i tapped into the hiperform subframe pulled out. the rear of the tank popped up... tweaked the front tab a bit, but not too bad.


right now, i have a nut on the underside for the rear tank bolt..


so my questions are:


Has anyone else with a hiperform subframe had this problem? if i Heli-coil it, will it be fine, or will i always have to run a nut under it?? will it work more reliably if i drill it out to a larger bolt size? if i do that, wont i need another metal insert for the grommet/mount?

[JR]

The Hiperform frame is only about 4-5mm thick where the tank needs to be bolted on. I was always going to get a nut welded on the underside once I had decided the exact location. How comes they all dont come from Rod with a nut welded on, is it because people may use a different tank?

[dagus]

he's got problems with his nuts

[bill-ns]

Aluminum sucks for threads... I'd keep it nut and bolted.... or a nutsert.
Bill

[jaysun0ne]

ya whats wrong with using a nut on the other side?
is it hard to get to?

i would think that would be the best way to do it.

maybe weld another plate so the hole is deeper and more threads will be engaged. but since theres no garanty that even that will work it sounds like more trouble than what its worth.

[TJStoner]

depending on how far you are from an edge you could use a J-Nut or U-nut...or i would just take a 1" OD alum rod , drill , thread, for STI (helicoil) , and then have it welded underneath ...you can have it about .500" long so you will have plenty of threads...I dunno what size bolt you will use...but i would thread insert it for sure.....J-Nut would be siimple, they come deep throat style as well for the nuts ya know?

pic of U-Nut

[Kilter]

Just have a nut welded onto the bottom, did that for the race seat/pan, took it to one of the local garages, He didn't even want to take any money for it, had to force him to take something to buy coffees for the employees

Mind you, if its alum. its a little harder, and I'd find someone more experianced with welding alum. still less than 10 min job.

[Doc]

I bet Dude's nuts hurt.

[Ross]

Blind nut rivet inserts work well:

http://www.riveter.com/english/pages/whatsanutrivet.html

[TJStoner]

I think in this application, riv nuts would not be suitable, they can pull out if jarred to and fro a bit, great for many uses, but something that holds a good amount of your weight and gets pressure on and off it , i would not use them to hold the tank

Blind nut rivet inserts work well:

http://www.riveter.com/english/pages...anutrivet.html

[dagus]

So a guy walks into his psychiatrist's office wearing nothing but Saran Wrap and screams, "Doc, what the hell's wrong with me?" and the doctor says, "Well, first of all, I can clearly see your nuts."

MrDude_1 has got nuts of solid aluminum then...

[tkm433]

I think in this application, riv nuts would not be suitable, they can pull out if jarred to and fro a bit, great for many uses, but something that holds a good amount of your weight and gets pressure on and off it , i would not use them to hold the tank

If you use the corret size you will have no problems.

I have been selling Yakima roof rack systems for 20+ years and they use rivet nuts to do some blind type mounts of their roof rack systems and nost opf these system are desinged to hold up to 150lbs of weight are designed to be still there after years of hard use. Yes, most of they rack systems use two of the rivet nuts per corner or a total of eight for most applications.

Go with a quality rivet nut and you will have no problems. They do require a special tool to install them but if you know hwta you are doing them you can get away without the tool but it can be a pain in the ass.

The last link below is what the company Yakima uses for their roof rack applications and will not pull out if you wanted to.

http://www.mcmaster.com/param/asp/PSearch2.asp?reqTyp=parametric&act=psearch&FAM=nutinserts&FT_158=7155&FT_104=141&FT_255=22662&FT_147=25270&session=nutinserts,158=7155;104=141;255=22662;147=25270&sesnextrep=951809979262951&ScreenWidth=1152&McMMainWidth=923

http://www.mcmaster.com/param/asp/PSearch2.asp?reqTyp=parametric&act=psearch&FAM=nutinserts&FT_158=7155&FT_104=141&FT_255=22662&FT_147=60655&session=nutinserts,158=7155;104=141;255=22662;147=60655&sesnextrep=951809979262951&ScreenWidth=1152&McMMainWidth=923

http://www.mcmaster.com/param/asp/PSearch2.asp?reqTyp=parametric&act=psearch&FAM=nutinserts&FT_158=182796&FT_2678=116653&session=nutinserts;158=182796;2678=116653&sesnextrep=951809979262951&ScreenWidth=1152&McMMainWidth=923

[MrDude_1]

Go with a quality rivet nut and you will have no problems. They do require a special tool to install them but if you know hwta you are doing them you can get away without the tool but it can be a pain in the ass.

The last link below is what the company Yakima uses for their roof rack applications and will not pull out if you wanted to.

i know theres a way to turn that into a dirty joke... but im just feeling lazy.




anyway, thanks for all the suggestions guys. i talked to one of the well known local racers lastnight and he apparently had the same thing happen to him..
we decided the alum is thick enough to work as a nut, but the small (stock) size i was using, was marginal for aluminum.... he thinks that it would have been fine, except i pull the tank on and off so much that it wore out the alum.. and i can see his point...

my plan of attack now is to run a slightly larger, fine thread bolt, and helicoil the threads to begin with.. the helicoil will bite over an even larger area in the alum, plus it will let me have steel threads that wont deform from tightening and loosening alot..

the guy even had another tank grommet that fit a larger bolt. lol. i think its from a kawasaki... fitting because i already have a part from a suzuki, a harley, a buell, and another honda... now i just need something off a yamaha, and maybe a ducati to even it all out.... lol.

[JR]

Saran Wrap

For us this side of the pond and who speak the Queen's English, the above I think is the same as "Cling Film"..... now that joke is funny

[dagus]

Hmmm.... if what we're speaking is the President's English, then we're all screwed...

"Cling film," huh?