Bar end weight bolt stuck

[oakville]

Good afternoon all.  Hoping for some advise.  I put on heated grips yesterday using the valuable advise of the forum and ordering the 4 part instead of the kit.  It was btw much cheaper and I thank you for the suggestion.  I was reinstalling the bar end weight on the right bar when the bolt jammed.  It is about a quarter inch from being fully seated so I do not believe it to be cross threaded.  There was a little dampness and some water may hove gone down the threaded hole.  Should have sprayed it with white grease before reinstalling but didn't and now I have this problem.  The bolt will not move either in or out.  Wont turn a micron.  Now it is cool here at only about 3 or 4C so I don't know if that could be a factor.

Suggestions?????  I'd prefer not to snap the bolt and drill it out etc.

[AZBob]

Originally Posted by oakville

Good afternoon all.  Hoping for some advise.  I put on heated grips yesterday using the valuable advise of the forum and ordering the 4 part instead of the kit.  It was btw much cheaper and I thank you for the suggestion.  I was reinstalling the bar end weight on the right bar when the bolt jammed.  It is about a quarter inch from being fully seated so I do not believe it to be cross threaded.  There was a little dampness and some water may hove gone down the threaded hole.  Should have sprayed it with white grease before reinstalling but didn't and now I have this problem.  The bolt will not move either in or out.  Wont turn a micron.  Now it is cool here at only about 3 or 4C so I don't know if that could be a factor.

Suggestions?????  I'd prefer not to snap the bolt and drill it out etc.

Have you tried putting some heat on the weight itself?

Also... you might want to consider using some blue Loc-Tite on those bolts when putting them back on. Odd that the kit doesn't say to do that.

[Volfy]

Those bar end weight are supposed to be free floating.  Their mass is tuned for mass-dampening, such that the bar end weights react to the handlebar vibration, thereby "canceling" the vibration at the grips.  With the TTSE at hwy speed, if you take your hands off the grip and lightly touch the bar ends, you'll feel them vibrating much more.  The grips, OTOH, will be relatively calm.

Because of this, the bar end weights are supposed to have a good bit of clearance, especially on the throttle side, to allow the weights to vibrate freely relative to the handlebar ends.  Not sure if mine are sitting at 1/4" out, but you certainly don't want to over-torque the bolt, once it has bottomed out.  Hopefully, all you did was to jammed the bolt against the internal stop a bit too much and you didn't make the bolt "jump thread".

You shouldn't lube the bolt thread with grease.  I agree that if you gonna put on anything, blue loctite is a good idea.  I just installed heated grips (same loose parts instead of kit) this season, and I think I just left the threads dry and torqued them to spec.

Maybe post some pics, so we can get an idea what you got.

[Coconut]

I've not heard of anyone having this problem before,
and would be surprised if the temperature is causing the problem.

COULD IT BE that you forgot to re-install the rubber bush
and the bolt has bottomed out in the threaded hole ?

Because it won't now move in OR out, instinct tells me
that you are going to have difficulty removing it 

Your description of the bolt not turning in eiither direction
does sound very much like it may have been cross threaded,
even though you think not because it has gone so far in,
but it is only an M6 x 1.0 thread, so it's quite possible.

Worse case scenario if you can't get the bolt out, is that you will have to replace the bar. ( £94.79  )

The other bits that might also need replacing, depending on whether they are damaged now,
or get damaged trying to remove the bolt are :

PFKL120405 WEIGHT. H/BAR SP £ 20.95
PFKL1204075 BUSH, RUBBER, 27X10X21MM £ 10.59
PFKL1204055 FINISHER. HANDLE BAR £ 10.47
PFKL202981 SCREW,CSK,M6X1.0X60,SLV £ 0.72
PFKL1204060 SLEEVE.WEIGHT.H/BAR £ 7.58

( Part numbers and prices from World of Triumph )

So before spening all that Cash it's worth trying to get the bolt out ....

First of all - do you know of any local engineering company that might be able to help ? 

Or, you could try ( at your own risk of course ! ) .......

Heating it up to see if that will free it off ....

Try a hot air blower or hair dryer on it for a few minutes first, and unscrewing it while hot.

If that doesn't work, it might need even more heat - so consider
stripping anything away that might get melted such as grip covers and wiring,
and then try a blow torch - the aim being to try and expand the hole with heat
thus loosening the grip on the bolt, but bearing in mind that the rubber bush will probably MELT,
as may the powder coating finish of the hande bar,
plus the silver finisher / weight are likely to all become discoloured.

If it IS cross threaded, then using brute force may be the ony answer -
try using a vice grip ( Mole grips ) on the head of the bolt - if it's still acccessible to give more leverage.

You should be prepared for the head of the bolt shearing off if it's that tight,
and then you're into the realms of trying to drill it out and re-thread the hole,
or in the worse case scenario as above - having to buy a new handlebar + other parts !

Good luck - let us know how you get on !

[AZBob]

Originally Posted by Volfy

Because of this, the bar end weights are supposed to have a good bit of clearance, especially on the throttle side, to allow the weights to vibrate freely relative to the handlebar ends.  Not sure if mine are sitting at 1/4" out, but you certainly don't want to over-torque the bolt, once it has bottomed out.

I took his post to mean that the head of the bolt was still sticking out of the hole 1/4", but it certainly could be read to mean the weight itself appears to be 1/4 away from the grip, in which case (as you mention) it's exactly where it's supposed to be and now it's just too tight.

[trophied]

I changed my stock Trophy weights for R&G weights which are a little heavier and I never had an issue with the bolts running in to snug easily by just twirling the hex key with only a slight final turn for tightening.  It definitely sounds like a cross thread situation.  Since I tend to be a train wreck and get irritated at myself when things go awry I probably would have already put an 18" pipe wrench on it and hit it with a 4 lb. hammer after I had heated it to about 3000 degrees F. with an oxyacetylene torch.  Good thing for the world that there are so much more level headed people on the planet.

[oakville]

LOL.  Yes I am trying to be level headed.  The weight has about a quater inch of free play on the bolt.  The weight is not snug and you can see threads if you slide it back.  Well tomorrow I will buy penetrating oil and hope for a release.  Also I will put the heated grip on high for a while and see if those 2 things together release the threads.  Update coming soon.

[AZBob]

Originally Posted by oakville

LOL.  Yes I am trying to be level headed.  The weight has about a quater inch of free play on the bolt.  The weight is not snug and you can see threads if you slide it back.  Well tomorrow I will buy penetrating oil and hope for a release.  Also I will put the heated grip on high for a while and see if those 2 things together release the threads.  Update coming soon.

The grip itself will not heat the weight... you'll need to use either a heat gun (recommended) or a torch.