SuzukiSavage.com - Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.

Johansson

YaBB Newbies

Offline

SuzukiSavage.com
Rocks!

Posts: 47

Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
08/28/10 at 18:34:13

Hi,
I go by Chuck. Live near Dallas, Tx. Bought a savage, 97, 12,000 miles.

After 30 years, I put my harley up on the stand. The gas tank had a dent or two. Was starting to rust inside. The oil lines need replacing. Might as well paint her, go through the motor a little. The harley runs fine, just think with about 130k on the motor, I should go through it.

So, I needed a bike so I can still commute. Always liked the thumper. Found the above bike, just the ticket.
Looked her over real well, good clean bike, needed new tires.
Got her home, took the side cover off, someone had been there before me. I fixed it, did the versy fix.

The dyna muffler, I discovered, was held on with three sheet metal zip screws. The muffler support bracket had been cut off with a hacksaw. Only the two header bolts held the whole exhaust up. Welded a new bracket on, tigged the old muffler to the header.

The tab on the motor for the clutch cable was broke off, fixed that too.

Previous owner had punched out a harley muffler. Bike sounded like nuts. Ran like nuts. Cut the muffler off, tigged a heritage softtail muffler on. Purrs like a kitten. Runs great.

In fact, the savage runs extremly well. Has grown on me. I like it. A lot.

Drove her like this for about 2500 miles.

Had a little oil seepage aroung the jug in two spots. Felt I should torque the head. Took the seat off. Both seat bolts stripped. Took the tank off. Both tank bolts stripped. Son of a pregnant dog, same idiot who put the muffler on was in here. Oh well. Started to take the valve cover off. darn, three bolts are wrong, between 5 and 10 mm too short. Then, the 115 mm valve cover bolt. Stripped! Buttoned her right back up, did not attempt to remove the cover. Drove her about a week.

On the way to work the last week, massive oil leak. Lost a qaurt in 9 miles. Took the valve cover off this time. The head plug looks like it is sealed and tight.

I am working on my other bike, really do not want to pull the savage motor to fix that thread for the 115 mm bolt. I am thinking a sliver of wood, blue loctite, down that hole,may buy me a few months until I get the harley on the road again.

Any one else have a suggestion?

This is a great site for savage owners.
Will post some pictures when the forum software allows.

chuck

Back to top

IP Logged

Johansson YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 47	Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one. Reply #1 - 08/28/10 at 18:37:53
Back to top	« Last Edit: 08/29/10 at 11:05:31 by Johansson » IP Logged

Johansson YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 47	Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one. Reply #2 - 08/28/10 at 18:39:35 well, I don't know how to post pictures from photo bucket so that they will show. I don't have pictures of the savage, just a few of the harley. chuck
Back to top	« Last Edit: 08/29/10 at 11:08:00 by Johansson » IP Logged

Johansson

YaBB Newbies

Offline

SuzukiSavage.com
Rocks!

Posts: 47

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #3 - 08/28/10 at 19:37:42

so, the harley is on the stand, the savage is down, I am down to my last bike

Just not gonna cut it.

Some pictures of my tank repair.
Left side, before

Right side, before

the tools, just some rod bent to access the dents through the filler neck

The rust

Left side, after

Right side, after

I have since stripped the tank of all paint. I will electrically remove the rust with a battery charger, tank of water and washing soda. After that, I will fill the tank with a large handfull of small steel washers and put the tank in a dryer along with several blankets to tumble and polish the inside. Then the kream sealant goes in. Then I'll paint the tank, along with the fenders.

chuck

Back to top

« Last Edit: 08/29/10 at 11:15:11 by Johansson »

IP Logged

ralfyguy Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 932	Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one. Reply #4 - 08/28/10 at 22:07:35 Dang that's alot of rust coming out of that tank!
Back to top	IP Logged

ralfyguy

Serious Thumper

Offline

Posts: 932

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #5 - 08/28/10 at 22:14:13

I have one stripped head cover bolt. The long M4 or M5 one all the way on the right side. Got it out, cleaned the bolt, got the green Loctite and put a fair amount on the bolt and in the hole. Then tightened what was left to torque, let it set for a while and fired her up to let it get hot. Won't move anymore by itself. That long thin bolt doesn't hold much anyways. I have no doubt that won't make a difference. In my opinion if those long bolts are supposed to hold a lot, then they should be larger in diameter. It's been like this since several thousand miles and no leaks or anything. They could have left it off, and it wouldn't matter.

Back to top

IP Logged

LANCER

Serious Thumper
Alliance Member

Offline

Savage Beast
Performance Parts

Posts: 10606
Oklahoma
Gender: male

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #6 - 08/29/10 at 03:41:45

the long right rear bolt on the head sets in an oil passageway to the head and strips fairly easily. using a bolt that is a little longer or a long stud with nuts on top will access the lower threads down in the hole ....the standard length bolt does not use all of the available threads so going longer will give more threads to get a good bite on
when I had the engine apart I drilled and installed the steel threads on the engine case for all the long bolts
I also cut a little metal off the top of the head cover for that right rear bolt so it would go deeper into the lower threads.

be sure to use those special black "sealing" washers on the bolts that go through the oils passageways

just an added note; I just removed a head yesterday from an engine and the "oil plug" in the head was just sitting there
the head had never been off before so when assembled at the factory they person doing the assembly DID NOT USE SEALANT/ADHESIVE on the plug ...it was just pushed down with the fingers...I just picked it up with my fingers ...no pressure at all

I had never seen that before on any engine

Back to top

IP Logged

Johansson

YaBB Newbies

Offline

SuzukiSavage.com
Rocks!

Posts: 47

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #7 - 08/29/10 at 08:15:17

Good job guys,
I never would have thought of a longer bolt or stud. I did not want to put it back together with a baling wire fix. Spent the last week cursing the fool who previously worked on the bike.

The savage is at my brothers house in a neighboring town. The closest place to park it coming home from work with oil pouring out of the motor. The head plug does have sealant on it. Probably is the source of the leak. I will replace the head plug. I will also order a new camshaft plug and that oil o-ring seal before I install the cover. Will have to find the correct bolts for the 2 that are short too. Guess I might as well replace the three sealing washers too.

I thank you guys for all the help I found here. Has made working on this bike a pleasure. Lot easier.

I have fixed the
camshaft adjuster, the versy fix
speedometer rattle, the oldfeller fix
headlight rattle, again, oldfeller
harley exhaust,
tuned the carb, many contributers here
seat mod lift

These simple repairs have made a finely tuned machine that is a pleasure to drive.

Now, I have just one more area to improve. The steering and suspension.
The bike had a pretty good pull to the side while driving. The drive belt tracks perfectly on the front and rear pulleys, took me awhile to get it to this level. I noticed that the handlebars were not quite lined up with the front wheel. I loosened the tripletree fork bolts and lined up the two front tubes by eye to what seemed parallel. This improved the pull, took probably 80% of the pull away. Is there a proper way to align the fork tubes?

I weigh 220 lbs. With the rear shocks set on 1 or 2 the handling is pretty bad at 65 mph. The bike wanders. At 4 or 5 she tracks better, but the ride is bone jarring. I run the shocks at the 3 position, about the best for comfort and tracking combined. Is there a better rear shock?

I typed fork oil into the search, not much help. Is there a thread to fork oil here? I would like to change my fork oil soon. seems like a pretty wide variation of suggested weights. From 5 weight to 20 weight.

Chuck

Back to top

IP Logged

ralfyguy

Serious Thumper

Offline

Posts: 932

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #8 - 08/29/10 at 08:16:37

My bolt is the long one on the right side just in front of the cam plug. This one didn't have a washer underneath. I don't know if it should have one. I looked at it closely and it still doesn't make much sense to me for the bolt to even have to be there. Considering the long length and the small diameter screwed into aluminum is kinda hideous. I am not trying to be superior to Suzuki engineers, but as a machinist it just kinda makes me shake my head.

Back to top

IP Logged

ralfyguy

Serious Thumper

Offline

Posts: 932

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #9 - 08/29/10 at 08:21:54

Johansson wrote on 08/29/10 at 08:15:17:

I noticed that the handlebars were not quite lined up with the front wheel. I loosened the tripletree fork bolts and lined up the two front tubes by eye to what seemed parallel. This improved the pull, took probably 80% of the pull away. Is there a proper way to align the fork tubes?

Actually there is really nothing to align. If I try to picture what you are trying to explain, it sounds to me like the fork tubes are bent.

Back to top

IP Logged

verslagen1

YaBB Moderator
ModSquad

Offline

Where there's a
will, I want to be
in it.

Posts: 28773
L.A. California
Gender: male

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #10 - 08/29/10 at 08:42:12

ralfyguy wrote on 08/29/10 at 08:21:54:

Johansson wrote on 08/29/10 at 08:15:17:

I noticed that the handlebars were not quite lined up with the front wheel. I loosened the tripletree fork bolts and lined up the two front tubes by eye to what seemed parallel. This improved the pull, took probably 80% of the pull away. Is there a proper way to align the fork tubes?

Actually there is really nothing to align. If I try to picture what you are trying to explain, it sounds to me like the fork tubes are bent.

Right there's nothing to align... except the forks can be tweaked in the trees. And yes, it's possible the forks are bent. To check for this, I'd remove the wheel, loosen one fork in the tree, and turn the tube around in the tree, looking and the axle end for wobble. Then tighten up that side and repeat for the other. If you can get the wobbles either straight forward or back then it shouldn't pull at all.

Back to top

Versey's Place
Tech Section Index

IP Logged

Johansson

YaBB Newbies

Offline

SuzukiSavage.com
Rocks!

Posts: 47

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #11 - 08/29/10 at 09:22:58

The fork tubes don't visually look bent. I checked this very closely by eye. Spinning the tube should let me know if a tube is bent. Never thought of checking tube run out. I think the triple trees just are'nt perfectly aligned to each other. Remember, someone with no mechanical ability worked on this bike before me.

Assuming the forks are not bent.
Take the front wheel off. Loosen the steering head bolt a little. Loosen the triple tree pinch bolts on the tubes. Carefully retighten everything and the forks should parallel themselves?

Chuck

Back to top

IP Logged

verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28773 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one. Reply #12 - 08/29/10 at 09:26:15 yeah, I would think so. I'd take time to inspect and clean the mating surfaces. cinch down the top cap 1st then the bottom pinch bolts.
Back to top	Versey's Place Tech Section Index IP Logged

ralfyguy

Serious Thumper

Offline

Posts: 932

Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one.
Reply #13 - 08/29/10 at 09:38:42

I know mine are bent back about 5 degrees. I suspect that the fact that the previous owner had a teenage son, and he occasionally let him drive it around the yard, that he hit something, maybe the garage wall. But the bike wasn't laid down. I bought it like that and knew it when I bought it three years and 10,000 miles ago. I never touched the forks as it runs perfectly straight and no wobbles. I even tried it at about 90mph one handed and there's no pull or wobble at all. I never replaced it because those forks are expensive, even just the upper tubes. And I don't have the courage to take them apart either. Especially since I am very restricted in terms of tools and such. I don't even have a bike lift or a work bench with a vise. Actually I even like how the bike handles like that. I like it when it seems to fall into the corners by itself. It has almost no understeer at all when pushed, unlike cruisers usually seem to have with a extended rake. It behaves more like a sports bike in corners, yet cruises just fine when riding relaxed on the highway. I don't wanna change that. It is amazing how I can flick it into a sharp turn with just a push of my knee and just a little handle bar input.

Back to top

IP Logged

verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28773 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Stripped head cover bolt, the 115 mm one. Reply #14 - 08/29/10 at 09:40:36 One thing to do while you got it all apart... clean and pack the stem bearings. mine where so gummed up then it wobbled down the freeway cause I couldn't balance the bike.
Back to top	Versey's Place Tech Section Index IP Logged