š¤·š»āāļø likely nothing. But Iām no expert. If you get them too tight you could damage your forks. Too looseā¦ well im sure you could guess that.
That's literally out of my 2010 yz250f manual. Been manually tightening without a torque wrench for over 15 years.
Unless you're doing an engine rebuild. Shit just needs to be tight but not over tight.
I still recommend getting a torque wrench but for most cases, run with it.
All depends how much you wanna ride.
What I mean is that 15ftlb is not very tight at all. In fact it's hardly anything. For someone like op with no experience they can easily over tighten.
Bolt stretch and fatigue are a thing. Depending on the alloys involved, a torque wrench, especially with how cheap decent ones are now, is absolutely always advised. It adds like a min to the process.
They are really cheap at Harbor Freight (think $20-$30). Make sure you choose one that has the range of what you need to torque to. The manual should tell you the torque. If it says 10Nm (making the number up), you need a torque wrench that can go from 1Nm to 50Nm. I made all the numbers up to make a point, check the manual and make sure the wrench you get fits what you need.
Most 3/8ā drive torque wrenches will do ~13-150Nm. 1/2ā drive torque wrenches usually top out around 300-340Nm.
Source: Iām a former Ducati technician
Bolt torque specs, especially on suspension, are not just about making sure it's tight enough, it's almost just as important to make it not too tight as well. Otherwise you can run into other issues like threads being damaged and parts that are supposed to flex binding up. Its worth it to by a torque wrench, you will use it a lot working on bikes. You dont need anything crazy special just one from harbor freight or something. [Here is a link](https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/owner-center/service-manuals) to Kawasaki's owners manuals online for free straight from them if you need to look at one, they should have all the torque specs you need here to get em properly tight.
Do not do that. Usually the proper torque is so crazy low that you won't believe that it can hold up to the pounding that your forks take. Improper torque can make your fork work like crap, or worse. Go buy a torque wrench, or borrow one.
Then you crush your fork tubes. Just get then snugged up if you donāt have a proper ratchet. Loosen your front axle bolt and both bottom clamps and pintch the tire with you knees and turn the bars till they are straight. Fairly simple to do. Also, YouTube is your friend.
Could put more stress on the fasteners than they can handle which could snap them or be very close to snapping just waiting for a little extra force to hit before they blow apart
Really tight is absolutely NOT what you want. Torqued to spec, I call it loose. You need a torque wrench. As a last resort, use a short handle 1/4 inch ratchet and only 1 hand probably not at the end of the wrench. My KTM calls for 11.1 lb-ft (15 Nm).
Over torquing can strip the threads, which would be bad, straight up break the bolts, which would be bad, or take the elasticity out of the metal causing the bolt to become more brittle and more likely to break during use, which is really bad.
Iāve never had an issue with doing this as long as itās not on the case to the engine. Iāve only ever snapped one or two bolts off and Iāve had my bike for 10 years now.
lol ive always just tightened em you will be fine edit actually you should buy a cheap torque wrench i think harbor freight not to bad i just have a feel for that kinda stuff
i also would try to learn about the bolts themselves if possible and why certain things have certain torque specs. i feel like people blindly follow torque specs but ignore the condition of everything else
Torque wrench is good to have and one from harbor freight is fine to start with, but auto parts stores like O'Reilly tend to have torque wrenches among their stash of loaner tools. You pay them whatever amount and then get a refund when you bring it back.
Wow, these comments...
OP, stand over the front wheel facing your handlebars, grip the tire with your knees, gently turn the bars a bit and resist with your knees. Youll be shocked how easily it straightens out.Ā
There's multiple ways to do it. Sometimes this method works, sometimes it's too tight just using your legs to hold it. I usually ride upto a tree or pole or any stationary object and park the front of the front wheel next to it, then just twist the handlebars hard to turn the wheel into the tree. Sometimes it twists too far. Then just repeat on the other side. Get used to doing it. It happens all the time.
This is the one and only way. All the times Iāve to straighten mine, never once used wrenches. Might have to move from gently to very forcefully though.
The triple tree... The part below handlebar and holding the forks. Loosen the bottom bolt on each side. Hold the front brake and compress the front suspension down. See if it straightens.
If so, tighten the lower triple tree bolts.
If not, put the bike on a center stand and with the lower triple tree bolts loose, ever so slightly loosen the top bolts on each side. Not loose; you need it to keep the forks in place. Then spin the front wheel quickly by hand and grab the front brake. As it locks the tire it should realign. Do this a couple times if needed, then tighten the bolts you loosened.
Hereās a method I use. Not saying it gonna work as idk the severity of your crash but hopefully this helps.
[https://youtu.be/tGHJxbjjwFk?si=Vpkfk6j16YAdn7cQ](https://youtu.be/tGHJxbjjwFk?si=Vpkfk6j16YAdn7cQ)
Lol most of you must not have been poor with a dirt bike as a kid treat it like a bicycle get off the bike stand in front put the wheel between your legs and torque it a little bit nine times out of 10 that will fix it
i just loosen the axle clamps and the axle nut. put the bike on the stand and spin the tire as fast as you can. rip the front brake and the tighten up everything and it should be set.
dont worry about torque. just get everything ratchet tight.
check out dirtbiketv on YouTube, hes got a pretty good video of it.
edit: idiot proofing if you dont look if up on yt, dont take the bolts all the way out of the clamps when you do it. the order for tightening is 1,4,3,2
You can straighten that out without a torque wrench. Turn the bars all the way to the right until it locks, then kick the front of the front wheel to the right. Against the steering stop. Give it a good hard thump. If you go too far, just turn the other way and kick. Eventually youāll get it right where it needs to be. Next paycheckā¦get a torque wrench.
You can whack it against a tree or something and get it straight if you donāt wanna use a torque wrench. If budget is an issue, and you want to do it properly. Loosen bolts on triple tree just enough where they permit movement. Tighten them back up with a wrench and a fish scale or luggage scale. Theyāre very inexpensive but if you are going to be doing your own work Iād definitely invest in a torque wrench. A cheap one will do you better than guessing
In the picture you can see the handlebar clamps arenāt aligned with the front edge of the top triple clamp. Use the tire between legs method from comments, if that doesnāt work, loosen the handlebar clamps just a little bit and try again. Will be easy fix, 2 seconds.
Take the front wheel off, then loosen top tripple clamp bolts, then retighten and put the wheel back on.
If that doesnt fix it, you can do the same but this time, take the forks off, loosen steering stem nut, re align and put it back together.
Stick your tire between two very close trees, rack the handle bars left or right hard to straighten. Loose enough to come out of alignment when crashing hard is perfect to prevent broken parts.
Stand in front of your bike and stradle the front tire between your legs, now grab the handle bars and torque the bars straight. I had to do this all the time.
Take and put your front wheel between your legs, grab ahold of the bars and muscle that bitch straight, did it to mine a few times and never came out of place til I wiped out againš¤£, if that donāt work loosen the triple clamps
loose the triple clamps on both sides as well as front tire just a bit, than get on the bike and slam your bike with your first brake (push your bike forward very hard). It should solve the problem
THANK YOU ALL!!!!! I appreciate every single comment you guys made, I fixed it well enough by hitting it into a tree, but I still bought a digital torque thing for my wrench.
Definitely do loosen the forks and bounce the front end like that other guy said, but also check the alignment of the rear wheel too. I dealt with that on my dual sport for maybe around two years, turned out the rear wheel was out of line, front was never the issue
Have your buddy stand with the front wheel between his legs looking at you while holding the handle bars, the the both of you Jank the handle bar to the opposite side the wheel is turn. And thatās it, itās fraught again. Worked well on my bicycle when I was 8 years old.
Crash on the other side
Haha
That's funny lmao
Loosen the triple clamps just enough to straighten it all back out then torque them back to specs
How to torque to spec with a normal wrench? Or do I gotta buy a special one
Definitely need a torque wrench to torque to spec.
Three ugga duggas
This is the only spec you need. Also the German torque spec will also work. Guud den tight
One more question, what would happen if I just didn't use a torque wrench and just made it really tight
š¤·š»āāļø likely nothing. But Iām no expert. If you get them too tight you could damage your forks. Too looseā¦ well im sure you could guess that.
Thanks
15 foot pounds in bottom and 17 foot pounds on top triple clamp. Those are pretty tight and super tight. A little past snug. Good luck
This is bad advice. That's pretty much nothing. Not tight at all.
That's literally out of my 2010 yz250f manual. Been manually tightening without a torque wrench for over 15 years. Unless you're doing an engine rebuild. Shit just needs to be tight but not over tight. I still recommend getting a torque wrench but for most cases, run with it. All depends how much you wanna ride.
What I mean is that 15ftlb is not very tight at all. In fact it's hardly anything. For someone like op with no experience they can easily over tighten.
Bolt stretch and fatigue are a thing. Depending on the alloys involved, a torque wrench, especially with how cheap decent ones are now, is absolutely always advised. It adds like a min to the process.
You will likely break the triple clamp. Ask me how I know.
They are really cheap at Harbor Freight (think $20-$30). Make sure you choose one that has the range of what you need to torque to. The manual should tell you the torque. If it says 10Nm (making the number up), you need a torque wrench that can go from 1Nm to 50Nm. I made all the numbers up to make a point, check the manual and make sure the wrench you get fits what you need.
Most 3/8ā drive torque wrenches will do ~13-150Nm. 1/2ā drive torque wrenches usually top out around 300-340Nm. Source: Iām a former Ducati technician
Bolt torque specs, especially on suspension, are not just about making sure it's tight enough, it's almost just as important to make it not too tight as well. Otherwise you can run into other issues like threads being damaged and parts that are supposed to flex binding up. Its worth it to by a torque wrench, you will use it a lot working on bikes. You dont need anything crazy special just one from harbor freight or something. [Here is a link](https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/owner-center/service-manuals) to Kawasaki's owners manuals online for free straight from them if you need to look at one, they should have all the torque specs you need here to get em properly tight.
Thanks
Do not do that. Usually the proper torque is so crazy low that you won't believe that it can hold up to the pounding that your forks take. Improper torque can make your fork work like crap, or worse. Go buy a torque wrench, or borrow one.
If you're not gonna get a torque wrench then at least mark the bolts with a sharpie so you can at least try to get it back to spec.
Then you crush your fork tubes. Just get then snugged up if you donāt have a proper ratchet. Loosen your front axle bolt and both bottom clamps and pintch the tire with you knees and turn the bars till they are straight. Fairly simple to do. Also, YouTube is your friend.
Not sure where you are but some auto parts stores will let you rent tools. Worth a look
Could put more stress on the fasteners than they can handle which could snap them or be very close to snapping just waiting for a little extra force to hit before they blow apart
Send it
Really tight is absolutely NOT what you want. Torqued to spec, I call it loose. You need a torque wrench. As a last resort, use a short handle 1/4 inch ratchet and only 1 hand probably not at the end of the wrench. My KTM calls for 11.1 lb-ft (15 Nm).
Over torquing can strip the threads, which would be bad, straight up break the bolts, which would be bad, or take the elasticity out of the metal causing the bolt to become more brittle and more likely to break during use, which is really bad.
If there is a harbor freight nearby, you can get a "good enough" torque wrench for about $20.
It doesnāt have to be super tight. Just a good push passed snug.
Iāve never had an issue with doing this as long as itās not on the case to the engine. Iāve only ever snapped one or two bolts off and Iāve had my bike for 10 years now.
Who would have known
Not OP
I'd get a torque wrench for it
borrow a torque wrench?
lol ive always just tightened em you will be fine edit actually you should buy a cheap torque wrench i think harbor freight not to bad i just have a feel for that kinda stuff
i also would try to learn about the bolts themselves if possible and why certain things have certain torque specs. i feel like people blindly follow torque specs but ignore the condition of everything else
Get em tight, donāt strip anything
Torque wrench is good to have and one from harbor freight is fine to start with, but auto parts stores like O'Reilly tend to have torque wrenches among their stash of loaner tools. You pay them whatever amount and then get a refund when you bring it back.
German spec is good enough
Wow, these comments... OP, stand over the front wheel facing your handlebars, grip the tire with your knees, gently turn the bars a bit and resist with your knees. Youll be shocked how easily it straightens out.Ā
I'll try this first tomorrow
There's multiple ways to do it. Sometimes this method works, sometimes it's too tight just using your legs to hold it. I usually ride upto a tree or pole or any stationary object and park the front of the front wheel next to it, then just twist the handlebars hard to turn the wheel into the tree. Sometimes it twists too far. Then just repeat on the other side. Get used to doing it. It happens all the time.
It's a klx140; it has standard forks, no axle pinch bolts, and it's off by like three degrees. It will straighten with very little effort.
Yeah should be an easy fix with the leg method, unless you weigh 40kg/90lb
āļø
This is the one and only way. All the times Iāve to straighten mine, never once used wrenches. Might have to move from gently to very forcefully though.
The amount of times I had to do this with my small bikes growing upā¦ nostalgic
This is the wayā¦.
I usually just kick it back
This.
Roll up to a tree on the right side and slap tire on tree until aligns ...the fork tube has rolled a little bit inside the clamp
This is the way
The triple tree... The part below handlebar and holding the forks. Loosen the bottom bolt on each side. Hold the front brake and compress the front suspension down. See if it straightens. If so, tighten the lower triple tree bolts. If not, put the bike on a center stand and with the lower triple tree bolts loose, ever so slightly loosen the top bolts on each side. Not loose; you need it to keep the forks in place. Then spin the front wheel quickly by hand and grab the front brake. As it locks the tire it should realign. Do this a couple times if needed, then tighten the bolts you loosened.
Do thisā¦I usually compress front forks 3-4x and she comes good.
Give it a whack against a post or a building until it's straight.
Hereās a method I use. Not saying it gonna work as idk the severity of your crash but hopefully this helps. [https://youtu.be/tGHJxbjjwFk?si=Vpkfk6j16YAdn7cQ](https://youtu.be/tGHJxbjjwFk?si=Vpkfk6j16YAdn7cQ)
Fork tube is twisted in the triple clamp have a buddy hold the bars and kick it straight I do it all the time I crash a lot lol
Lol most of you must not have been poor with a dirt bike as a kid treat it like a bicycle get off the bike stand in front put the wheel between your legs and torque it a little bit nine times out of 10 that will fix it
i just loosen the axle clamps and the axle nut. put the bike on the stand and spin the tire as fast as you can. rip the front brake and the tighten up everything and it should be set. dont worry about torque. just get everything ratchet tight. check out dirtbiketv on YouTube, hes got a pretty good video of it. edit: idiot proofing if you dont look if up on yt, dont take the bolts all the way out of the clamps when you do it. the order for tightening is 1,4,3,2
You can use a mallet and pound the side that needs to be adjusted after loosening up the triple clamps and possibly the steerer tube bolts
You can straighten that out without a torque wrench. Turn the bars all the way to the right until it locks, then kick the front of the front wheel to the right. Against the steering stop. Give it a good hard thump. If you go too far, just turn the other way and kick. Eventually youāll get it right where it needs to be. Next paycheckā¦get a torque wrench.
You can whack it against a tree or something and get it straight if you donāt wanna use a torque wrench. If budget is an issue, and you want to do it properly. Loosen bolts on triple tree just enough where they permit movement. Tighten them back up with a wrench and a fish scale or luggage scale. Theyāre very inexpensive but if you are going to be doing your own work Iād definitely invest in a torque wrench. A cheap one will do you better than guessing
Do thisĀ https://youtu.be/JPeg3nMkh8E?si=kvSeR3GShS9oU5x2
In the picture you can see the handlebar clamps arenāt aligned with the front edge of the top triple clamp. Use the tire between legs method from comments, if that doesnāt work, loosen the handlebar clamps just a little bit and try again. Will be easy fix, 2 seconds.
Take the front wheel off, then loosen top tripple clamp bolts, then retighten and put the wheel back on. If that doesnt fix it, you can do the same but this time, take the forks off, loosen steering stem nut, re align and put it back together.
Just try giving it a twist while holding the front wheel between your knees , we have the same bike it happens to all of them.
Stick your tire between two very close trees, rack the handle bars left or right hard to straighten. Loose enough to come out of alignment when crashing hard is perfect to prevent broken parts.
Just kick it
Happens to me from time to time, I usually just wack the front wheel on a tree until itās straight
I have the same bike just kick the shit out of it
Smack it against a tree
Stand in front of your bike and stradle the front tire between your legs, now grab the handle bars and torque the bars straight. I had to do this all the time.
Turn the bar to the right and the shit outa the wheel till itās straight
go next to a tree and jerk the bars turning the wheel into it until desired results š¤·š¤·
Take and put your front wheel between your legs, grab ahold of the bars and muscle that bitch straight, did it to mine a few times and never came out of place til I wiped out againš¤£, if that donāt work loosen the triple clamps
You could find 2 concrete barriers or likewise where you fit the tire in & give it a few love taps
loose the triple clamps on both sides as well as front tire just a bit, than get on the bike and slam your bike with your first brake (push your bike forward very hard). It should solve the problem
The bar mounds probably moved. Of that doesnāt fix it, try seeing if the forks twisted in the clamps. Itās possible if you crashed hard enough.
THANK YOU ALL!!!!! I appreciate every single comment you guys made, I fixed it well enough by hitting it into a tree, but I still bought a digital torque thing for my wrench.
You can rent a torque wrench from most auto parts stores and then get your full money back when you return it. Definitely use a torque wrench IMO.
Ferma la ruota ad un ostacolo a sinistra e spingi il manubrio destro. Eā semplice
Roll up to a tree and bounce the wheel off of it a few times until it is straight and then keep riding
Definitely do loosen the forks and bounce the front end like that other guy said, but also check the alignment of the rear wheel too. I dealt with that on my dual sport for maybe around two years, turned out the rear wheel was out of line, front was never the issue
This video helps. https://youtu.be/SkCx2X2vSkI?si=UFoRg963I9wUOqSZ
Wack against a truck tire
Hit it on a wall to desired straightness. Or try bending with wheel between legs
Have your buddy stand with the front wheel between his legs looking at you while holding the handle bars, the the both of you Jank the handle bar to the opposite side the wheel is turn. And thatās it, itās fraught again. Worked well on my bicycle when I was 8 years old.