Camshaft thread gone wrong?

Great info from all. I'll use it this week........

i always check torque wrench calibration with a 1/2 gallon of milk :dry: WTF?
dont oil the threads
by now you should be able to tell how tight is too tight and how much is enough
stop and think before you strip another one
its only aluminum
not a lot of shear strength

jeffasaki wrote: i always check torque wrench calibration with a 1/2 gallon of milk :dry: WTF?
dont oil the threads
by now you should be able to tell how tight is too tight and how much is enough
stop and think before you strip another one
its only aluminum
not a lot of shear strength

hahahahahaa

Sorry the half gallon of milk thing is funny. I had a bolt strip out of the head on my KZ1000 too. Then again, i could stick a nut on the other side..

Before I sent my head in for the full treatment (minus porting)I heli coiled all 16 for this reason. I needed to check the clearance with plexi gauge on the 1980 kz750 cams and bench shim it also and with the added pressure due to the heavier springs I knew there would be a lot of wear on the treads before I was done and didn't want to take a chance.

Also figured I'd be removing the cams several times before the clearances settled in.

Used a little anti seize and went to 80 inch pounds myself and everything felt good and solid.

Before buying the beam type torgue wrench I've always used a 3 and a half inch 10 mm boxed end and was probably stopping at around 60 inch lbs so that's probably why I've never messed up a thread before on these or the valve cover bolts.

The last time my 650 engine was out of the frame I helicoiled every cam cap bolt just so I would not have to worry about stripping the threads again. It has been my experience that when one goes out all the others start to follow.

jeffasaki wrote: i always check torque wrench calibration with a 1/2 gallon of milk :dry: WTF?
dont oil the threads
by now you should be able to tell how tight is too tight and how much is enough
stop and think before you strip another one
its only aluminum
not a lot of shear strength

Haha yes I use a half gallon of milk. It's the only thing I know what the weight is :whistle:

And yeah I haven't really been too aggressive, and specially because they've all been stripping I've been slow and careful waiting for that tick. However, I definitely am paranoid and will go slower and less strength now.

KZB2 650 wrote: Before I sent my head in for the full treatment (minus porting)I heli coiled all 16 for this reason. I needed to check the clearance with plexi gauge on the 1980 kz750 cams and bench shim it also and with the added pressure due to the heavier springs I knew there would be a lot of wear on the treads before I was done and didn't want to take a chance.

Also figured I'd be removing the cams several times before the clearances settled in.

Used a little anti seize and went to 80 inch pounds myself and everything felt good and solid.

Before buying the beam type torgue wrench I've always used a 3 and a half inch 10 mm boxed end and was probably stopping at around 60 inch lbs so that's probably why I've never messed up a thread before on these or the valve cover bolts.

baldy110 wrote: The last time my 650 engine was out of the frame I helicoiled every cam cap bolt just so I would not have to worry about stripping the threads again. It has been my experience that when one goes out all the others start to follow.

Good to know I'm not the only one, thanks for the comments guys