I am wondering how important it is to rethread the tension bolts and their bores before assembling a rebuild. The reason I ask is that I can't find a 10 by 1 mm tap or die anywhere; and I mean anywhere! I know rethreading is important to get accurate torque readings, but how off could it be if I didn't rethread? Would it be okay if I just lightly went over the bolts with a wire wheel and cleaned out the bores with a wire brush?

thanks

 

Not important at all. In fact, in my opinion it's more of a risk. You risk damaging the threads in the front iron or the threads on the bolts. Just give them a good cleaning with a wire wheel, and put a little oil on the first 1/4" of threads. Also oil the sealing washers at the bolt heads.

Should be very easy to find the proper metric die/tap at any tool store. Maybe this stuff is harder to find in the States, but around here metric is as common as dirt.

 

But as you know, Aaron, we silly Americans have rebelled against instituting that "French" system, lol...

I just cleaned up the threads to remove any solid debris (on the bolts and the housing), then coated the tension bolt threads (last 1/2" or so) with a good anti-seize compound designed for applications with heat (like your exhaust manifold bolts/nuts). Works well, because the anti-seize "lubricates" a little, allowing more accurate torques, without having to worry about adding your running torque to the final torque....

 

Surly you mean "anything that makes sense", right?

(My useless post for the month)

 

We only get one???

Damn, I just used it...

 

Well I wish we would just switch to the metric system already. I'm so sick of dealing with english and metric at the same time. I'm in college right now for mech eng and we have to learn how to do everything in both systems. Any way, all the tool suppliers around here all have the same pitifull selection. I'm glad to here it isn't that important to rethread, thanks.