Stuffed bolts

[spear]

Greetings all. Noticed that I was having trouble keeping tight, the 4 bolts that secure my top box. I'd go for a ride with or without the pillion-in-a-million and after about 30kms I'd notice that the top was 'bouncing' and I could hear a rattle. No matter how often I'd tighten the bolts, the damned things would be loose in no time. Decided to take them out and give them a dose of "Lok-tite", only to find that they had been gradually slamming themselves to death. Appears that as soon as they loosened up and the top box started to bounce, the bolts were being damaged. Have ordered new ones. In the meantime, have a look at the damage to these 3. Whadda y'all reckon?

[JOE MCDERMOTT]

I just bought my 2000 MM and took it apart to clean.

While removing top box I noticed Base plastic had some

serious cracks and these round headed allen screws .

I would remove them and install a Large Fender Washer

with hex head with lock washer to fasten them down.

All can be bought at Home Depot or Lowes.

I want to make a square plate instead of fender washer

to spread out the bolt torque on the plastic ..

Fender washers if heavy enough will work on spreading

out the pressure on plastic base ..

[whozleft]

I have had problems with these bolts also. I bought a few replacements at a local Lowe's. the don't match, but at least I have them. I have already lost one. zI am going the loctit route myself. there's soemthing about this bike that loosens up the bolts. It runs smooth, so I don't get it.

[spear]

After sending my local Yammie dealer an email with pics, asking him to order me 6 bolts - I later decided to drop in to a local industrial fastener supplier to see if he had any. Sure as eggs, right there on the shelf was a box full of the little devils. Stainless steel and $1 each. Bought 6 (just to have a couple spares - don't know why because I also bought a bottle of LocTite from him) then drove around to the Yammie dealer and told him not to worry about them. He said it was too late as he had ordered them, and as it was a special order I was stuck with them. "No worries" I said. "Couple more spares won't hurt." Yeah right! $3.80 each because they were from Yamaha Japan. I told him I didn't need them or want them, but I was prepared to complete the deal and offered him $20 for the lot. He said if he could find any other Yammie models that they were common to, he would keep thim in stock. Still waiting to hear from him. Expensive little exercise that one. $2.80 dearer than the identical thing at an industrial supplier - x 6 = $16.80. Man, that's 3/4 of a carton of beer.

[Eck]

 

In the meantime, have a look at the damage to these 3.

Whadda y'all reckon?

 

 

SPEAR,

SUGEESTION ONLY BUD>>>>But your post caught my attention:

It may not be a bad idea to visually check the threads on your bike too.

You mentioned you had to "retighten" those damaged bolts "often" and by doing so (and so often) you may have damaged the threads on your bike too and not know it.

Installing the new bolts may cause damage to thier threads also.

You can purchase the correct MM size tap at your local ACE hardware store if you need to re-tap (some times called - "chase") the threaded holes on your bike.

As I mentioned, this is only a suggestion to avoid further 'possible" damage.

Hugs.........

[Sawhorse]

Shouldn't those have been covered by the warranty? He should givem to ya......

 

After sending my local Yammie dealer an email with pics, asking him to order me 6 bolts - I later decided to drop in to a local industrial fastener supplier to see if he had any. Sure as eggs, right there on the shelf was a box full of the little devils. Stainless steel and $1 each. Bought 6 (just to have a couple spares - don't know why because I also bought a bottle of LocTite from him) then drove around to the Yammie dealer and told him not to worry about them. He said it was too late as he had ordered them, and as it was a special order I was stuck with them. "No worries" I said. "Couple more spares won't hurt." Yeah right! $3.80 each because they were from Yamaha Japan. I told him I didn't need them or want them, but I was prepared to complete the deal and offered him $20 for the lot. He said if he could find any other Yammie models that they were common to, he would keep thim in stock. Still waiting to hear from him. Expensive little exercise that one. $2.80 dearer than the identical thing at an industrial supplier - x 6 = $16.80. Man, that's 3/4 of a carton of beer.

[spear]

Hi Eck.

Did that. The new bolts are a nice tight fit as originally intended. As you will see, the bulk of the damage is to the bolts themselves where - once they had come loose and partly out - had been banged about by the top box mounting brackets. I did a visual and all appeared okay. New bolts in with Lok-tite.

 

Warranty? WARRANTY!? Huh. Only 2 years here in Oz. Dunno why you guys get 5 and we get 2. I'm outta warranty my friend.

 

[royalstarjac]

Hi Eck.

Warranty? WARRANTY!? Huh. Only 2 years here in Oz. Dunno why you guys get 5 and we get 2. I'm outta warranty my friend.

 

 

Maybe because they know us Yanks take better care of our bikes!-Jack

[Moakster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spear

Hi Eck.

Warranty? WARRANTY!? Huh. Only 2 years here in Oz. Dunno why you guys get 5 and we get 2. I'm outta warranty my friend.

 

 

 

I thought that the 5 year warranty for the Venture was from Yamaha, not the country where you live????????????????

[RedRider]

Had this same issue and the bolt was messed up enough so I couldn't tighten it or take it out. It would move about 3/4 of a turn and lock up in both directions.

 

Ended up drilling it out and then attempted to retap. Took out too much material to retap. Put in a Helicoil and all is good to go. I now double check to see they are all tight (and they all have blue Loctite on them).

 

RR

[spear]

Maybe because they know us Yanks take better care of our bikes!-Jack

No - I think you get 5 years because you DON'T look after your bikes.

We don't need warranty in Oz. No need for it. No problems.

We're looked after by Yamaha-Australia.

[spear]

Update - been riding for a week or so now and the bolts haven't budged. I did however get a call from my Yammie dealer wanting to know when I was going to pick up the 6 bolts I (foolishly) ordered from him. Because I asked him to order them and he had to source them, I had to take them. $3.80 each! Damn, the identical ones I bought from an industrial place were $1 each - and I told him too. Said I didn't need them and didn't want them, but because I ordered them I suppose I had better take them. No offer of returning them to his source or putting them in stock. Oh no. Guess I better find another Yammie dealer. It's little things like this that kill goodwill. Live and learn I suppose.

[REDRIDER52]

Joe check with your dealer Yamaha came out with a kit to fix the trunk problem it came with plates and rubber spacers to put between trunk and the bar under it.

[Sgtglenn]

When you go to Lowes or Home Depot for replacement bolts, get em long enough to feed all the way through the mounting plate.

Tighten a loctited nut under the mounting plate on the exposed threads.

This way they cannot back out of the threads tapped into the mounting plate. Worth a shot