I am begining to believe my Buell is haunted!

Gizmo

Gizmo

Club Member
As part of my lunchtime work avoidance program I have been tinkering with the Buell to catch up on 14 years of neglect (by me!). Today I am starting to put the bits back together now. The valves are back in with new seals and I thought I would put the front mount bracket back on whilst its on the bench.

So I blasted and powdercoated the grotty looking casting. Sourced two new high tensile 7/16unc bolts (not stainless!) and torqued them up to the requisite torque.


Mid afternoon tea break and its time to fettle the valve covers, then what awaited me was the bracket I had put on 3 hours earlier less one bolt.

WTF!

After a it of rummaging around I found the bolt bout 4 feet away directly in line with the hole. It looks like it had fired out of the hole after snapping in half. Now this is a new one on me. In all the years of tinkering with stuff I have never had a bolt break whilst it has just sat there.


This is getting spooky!


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Re: I am begining to believe my Buell is haunted!

Sounds like the bolt has been hardened and has remained to brittle to cope with the amount of torque imposed on it.

If after hardening it has not been tempered correctly, breakages are likely to occur as you have experienced.

Better to find this out in a workshop, rather than on the road.

Be careful that any other bolts used are not as brittle as the one that has already snapped. If you are unsure change the lot.
 
Re: I am begining to believe my Buell is haunted!

Tomo said:
Sounds like the bolt has been hardened and has remained to brittle to cope with the amount of torque imposed on it.

If after hardening it has not been tempered correctly, breakages are likely to occur as you have experienced.

Better to find this out in a workshop, rather than on the road.

Be careful that any other bolts used are not as brittle as the one that has already snapped. If you are unsure change the lot.
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I have scrapped of the other one as a precaution. I have heard f Hydrogen embrittlement as a result of plating but not seen it first hand. I did get the bolts zinc plated along with a load of other stuff like the front axle shaft. I think this only occurs on very high hard steel so I am hoping its just these bolts that were affected if this is the case.
 
Re: I am begining to believe my Buell is haunted!

Gizmo said:
I have scrapped of the other one as a precaution. I have heard f Hydrogen embrittlement as a result of plating but not seen it first hand. I did get the bolts zinc plated along with a load of other stuff like the front axle shaft. I think this only occurs on very high hard steel so I am hoping its just these bolts that were affected if this is the case.
Click to expand...

Hardening and Tempering of various types of metals have consideration given to the type of material being treated. The thickness of the material, The stresses and loads it will be subjected too etc etc. The process is a skill and not always carried out correctly.

Mild steel and other metals can be hardened to a point that it/they become extremely brittle, if not tempered/quenched/cooled correctly. So its not just very high end hard steel that can be affected.

Different external processes following the initial hardening and tempering carried out by proffesionals can possibly affect the finished structure/hardness/brittleness/softness of how it was following the initial hardening and tempering as it has been subjected to further possibly unknown heat exposure and different various quenching/cooling methods.

Due to various factors I would always ask anyone carrying out any work to component parts [ie plating] whether any methods involving heat will have any adverse affect on the component parts ability to be fit for purpose.

If you have doubts over anything that may put your life in danger. Get it checked out and ask the experts. Hardness Tests can be carried out to check fit for purpose suitability.
 
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