Torque wrenches

(1/3/2014) If you are going to work on your bike, it is very important to have two torque wrenches in your toolbox, each of a different scale:

1. foot pounds
2. inch pounds

Above/right is a photo of my two wrenches, the newer one (inch pounds) is in its plastic case. I made the mistake of throwing away the case for the larger, ft.-lb. wrench, so it would fit in my toolbox. I now realize that it's very important to keep these wrenches clean and the case helps toward that end. I am going to be sure to keep this case and rearrange the contents of my toolbox to accommodate the new arrival.

These are both called "click" or "clicker" type/style torque wrenches because they make an audible clicking sound when you reach the set torque. This offers the advantage of not having to see the wrench in order to know when you've reached the correct tightness. You don't have to have much experience working on motor vehicles to appreciate this feature, as you are often inserting your tools into crevices that make reading a dial very difficult, if not impossible.

I confess that it was only recently that I purchased an inch-pound torque wrench. (I've had a foot pound wrench since 2000, the year I bought my Harley Davidson Road King Classic.) I became particularly motivated to purchase the inch-pound wrench because I want to change my oil pressure sending unit and the creator of a YouTube video I watched on the subject pointed out that getting the torque right is especially important for this component.

As you may know from reading some of my recent blog posts, I recently changed my front brake pads, and the pad pins also call for a specific torque, i.e., 180-200 inch pounds. As I did not have an inch-pound torque wrench available, I had to tighten the pad pins to what "felt" right, which is really not a good idea.

Now that I have the new wrench, I plan to go into my garage this weekend and tighten the fasteners for which the manual specs inch-pound torque values. I've included a table below with some examples of both foot-pound and inch-pound values for some of the threaded parts we more often have to deal with, such as spark plugs.

Why you need torque wrenches

There are three reasons that come to mind immediately why you need to torque fasteners to their specified tightness:

1. To avoid cracking or otherwise breaking the fastener, e.g., bolt, screw, etc.
2. To avoid having the fastener come loose during vehicle operation, and
3. When a gasket is involved, to prevent squeezing the gasket beyond its optimum pressure, possibly damaging it or leading to a leak, or both.

Read the documentation!

Be smarter than me and read the documentation carefully when you get a new torque wrench. Now that I am writing about such matters, I do read the documentation. However, it would have been a good idea for me to read it when I bought the first one. Had I done that, I would have learned to set the wrench to 20-25% of its maximum when storing it, and never reduce the tension down to zero. Because I hadn't read the manual, I violated both of these rules. The wrench seems to work fine but I realize now --having read the manual for my new inch-pound wrench--that I should take the foot-pound wrench to Sears and ask about getting it calibrated. (It's a Craftsman brand.)

We were not born with the knowledge as to how to properly use a torque wrench and most of us are guilty of passing along erroneous information from time to time, so it behooves us to take responsibility for our own skills development and read the instructions.

For example, here's something else I learned when reading the instructions: the torque wrench does not prevent you from overtightening a fastener. If you keep tigthening even after you hear the first clicks, it is possible to overtighten the fastener. Of course, this begs the question, why would anyone work harder than necessary? (If you're hearing impaired, my apologies if I've offended you, but you should have chosen a different type of torque wrench, such as one with a digital readout.)

Torque specifications for certain fasteners on my Harley:

Brake pad pins:	180-200 in. lbs.
Brake caliper mounting bolts:	28-38 ft. lbs.
Front axle nut:	50-55 ft. lbs.
Front axle holder nuts:	132-180 in. lbs.
Engine side cover:	84-108 in. lbs.
Spark plugs:	12-18 ft. lbs.
Oil pressure sending unit:	96-120 in. lbs.
Oil pan drain bolt:	14-21 ft. lbs.

Foot pounds can be converted to inch pounds by multiplying by 12, or inch pounds to foot pounds by dividing by 12. For example, 1 foot pound = 12 inch pounds.

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Please pray for a short winter (mild seems to be gone), and as always,
Keep the shiny side up!

-The Long Rider

Replacing your brake pads (Part 3)

(12/8/2013) The brake grease I ordered arrived last week along with a new set of EBC Brakes FA400 organic pads for the rear wheel. My friend Mike Russo invited me over for dinner on Friday, so I got there a little early and pulled my new front pads so I could apply the grease. I also made a close inspection of my rear brake pads and determined that they don't need replacement until next spring.

In this blog post I want to show you what the new pads look like, especially with the brake grease applied to the back sides.

I also took advantage of this opportunity to photograph caliper pistons and inspect my rear pads. I also removed my front axle and greased it--though not with the brake grease. 

New pads - wear groove

The new brake pads come with a wear groove approximately 1/8-inch (3.2mm) thick, as shown in the photo at left. The total pad thickness is approximately 4mm, perhaps a bit more. Thus, when you've worn the pads past the bottom of that groove, you've got 0.8 mm of material left. They should be changed at 1.0 mm. Therefore, when you've worn the pads to the bottom of the groove, you're actually past the point where they should be changed.

Brake caliper pistons

In the videos and the maintenance manual, there is no discussion of removing the front wheel to change brake pads. Unfortunately, I have to remove my front wheel because the calipers will not clear the fender. I'm not sure how others manage it.

With the calipers unbolted--and supported by something such as the small plastic garbage can I used, shown in the accompanying photo--you can see the four large pistons on the inner walls of the caliper.

Many years ago, I had a Honda CM450C and contaminants managed to work their way into the sides of one of the pistons; this caused my front brake to lock up. That's a situation in which you (1) first almost wipe out because as you think you are releasing your brake you twist the throttle and consequently come close to taking a dive, and (2) then cannot even roll the stalled bike. I was sitting there in the middle of the street, stuck. My friend Steve and I had to pry the pistons apart with a screw driver on the spot, on a cold Buffalo afternoon in March. You can thus imagine why I am keen on lubricating and cleaning my brake calipers.

These calipers actually looked pretty clean, so all I did was give them a wipe with a rag. There was a little superficial rust on the inside of one piston. If I had the patience, I could have rubbed it off with some emery cloth. But, seeing as how this would unlikely cause any problems as is, I left it alone. (I'm learning that if something ain't broke, it's usually a bad idea to fix it.)

In the photo at left, you can see the recently installed EBC Brakes organic pads, slightly worn now. In the background, are the two pad pins. Recall that these require a ¼-inch 12-point socket (or box wrench) to remove and install. (You should also have an inch-pound torque wrench to tighten them properly.* Also recall that the caliper bolts require a 10mm 12-point socket or box wrench, and a foot-pounds torque wrench for proper tightening.)

I took this second photo so you can see the two pistons on the outboard side of the caliper.

Brake grease

In order to reduce noise, minimize moisture in the pistons, and prevent rust on the backsides of the pads, I took the advice of one of the mechanics in a YouTube video and applied some specialty brake grease to the back sides of the pads.

For the grease, I purchased Permatex "Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant." I don't know how good it is because it's my first time using it. However, based on the reviews I found online, I expect good results.

Permatex uses a bright purple dye (see photo at left) in the grease so you can easily see where it's been applied. I imagine this is a safety feature, as you want to be sure not to get any grease on the braking surface of the pads.

There is a brush attached to the cap, which you use to apply the grease. It's very easy to use. However, as with any dirty job, you will want to wear shop clothes and keep rags handy.

The grease offers the convenience of adhesion as well as lubrication, so when you insert the pad back into the caliper, the grease will actually hold it in place while you work the other pad.

(Note the use of blue painters tape to protect the fender from the caliper. I saw this useful technique on a YouTube video.)  

Rear brake pads

After I finished installing the newly-greased pads and mounted both calipers, I applied conventional lubricant to the front axle, to reduce friction and create a moisture barrier.

I then moved to the back of the bike, right side, to inspect the rear brake pads. I had in hand a new set of pads and was ready to install them. Back around 2004, I failed to pay attention to my rear brake pads and wore them down to the backing plate and warped my rotor. It was a very expensive experience and I hung the bowl-shaped rotor on my garage wall as a reminder to check the rear brakes at least a couple of times a year. (I use my rear brakes almost every time I use my front brakes, unlike some riders who have the bad habit of using only their front brakes.)

After a close visual inspection, I determined that I could put another 3,000+ miles on the rear pads. As there is no expiration date on the new ones I just purchased, I will wait until spring and check my rear brakes again.

I hope you found this series on brakes helpful.

Pray for a short, mild winter, and as always…Keep the shiny side up!

-The Longer Ride

*I plan to write about torque wrenches in a future blog post.

Cold weather riding

(11/30/2013) No, I've not decided to become a jihadi. That's a photo of me in a fleece balaclava. I generally wear it when I ride in temperatures below 55°F and I'm not wearing a full face helmet. Yes, I'm addicted to riding. I love it so much, I'll ride even when it's close to freezing outside.

In this blog post, I will share with you some of what I've learned over the years--including riding in the winter in Buffalo, NY--on how to keep warm when riding in temperatures as low as 30°F. Below 30°F, you're risking icy roads and sudden death.*

Ride prepared

I recenty went for a Thanksgiving weekend ride, in the mid afternoon when the temperature rose to almost 50°F and the sun was shining brightly. I was quite comfortable on the outbound leg of the trip. I stayed at a friend's house for several hours and by the time I left, the temperature had dropped to about 38°F and the sun had gone down. If you've ridden much in temperatures below 45°F, you know how much the sun's radiant heat helps warm you even when the ambient temperature leaves something to be desired. Fortunately, I was prepared for riding even in freezing temperatures and rode home witout feeling very cold, except for my poor hands, which began to sting a bit. (That feeling goes away when they get numb. :-)

This recent experience got me to thinking of the many other times I've ridden in the cold and it motivated me to write about it.

Avoiding hypothermia

As I wrote in a blog post a while back, I have experienced moderate-to-severe hypothermia while riding. It got to the point where I had stopped shivering and was actually hallucinating or otherwise having very strange dreams while awake. Since then, I have worked very hard at preparing myself for cold and damp weather conditions where hypothermia could again become a threat.

Your top priority is always to keep the core of your body at its minimally functional temperature, which is somewhere between 95°F and 98°F. To accomplish this in cold conditions, you need to understand how to retain as much heat as possible in your body. I also want you to be aware that there are heated garments you can wear while riding that will add heat to your body.

Retaining Heat

Dressing properly in cold weather involves the concept of layering. In general, there are three layers of clothing you should wear to minimize heat loss from the core of your body:

1. Wicking (or base) layer, which contacts your skin
2. Insulating layer, which should trap air between layers 1 and 3
3. Shell, which should repel water and block wind

Layer 1 - Wicking (base layer)

The body loses heat in four ways: (1) evaporation; (2) convection; (3) conduction; and (4) radiation. For the most part, we're interested only in the first two in this discussion.**

We know that in warm conditions, our skin secretes moisture as a means of cooling. This process generates heat loss by evaporation. We sweat because our body wants to shed heat. If we want to avoid heat loss by evaporation, then we want to keep our skin dry by drawing any moisture away from the skin and allowing it to evaporate only after it's no longer in contact with our skin. Therefore, the layer against our skin should be good at wicking away moisture from our skin. Silk, wool, and certain synthetic materials are good at this.

In the photo above, I show a set of synthetic long underwear from REI. This reminds me of a story. An older friend of mine served in the US Air Force in the early 1970s maintaining planes, often outside in very cold conditions. He and his comrades learned to wear pantyhose under their uniforms. The panthose served two purposes: it wicked away persipiration and created a thin layer of insulating air. You know it had to be effective if these enlisted men were willing to go to such extremes to keep warm. Fortunately, we now have more masculine synthetic garments for our base layer.

Layer 2 - Insulating layer

The blue jeans with a bright red lining shown in the accompanying photos provide me with layer 2 (insulating), and in dry conditions layer 3 (shell) as well.

I own two pairs of these pants and recommend them highly. They are the Wrangler brand with a fleece+Thinsulate® lining. It is remarkable how well they block the wind and insulate my lower body. I purchased mine online from Sheplers.com.

For the upper part of your body, I recommend a fleece jacket for insulation. A Thinsulate®-lined vest, such as the Aerostich Kanetsu I describe below, also offers very good insulation for the trunk of your body.

Keep in mind that you typically lose a tremendous amount of heat through your neck and head. It is therefore very important to wear an insulating layer and shell for both of these areas. A good helmet--especially a full face--will do a good job of providing you with these two layers. A simple turtleneck shirt with a high-collar jacket will take care of your neck.

Layer 3 - Shell

The shell layer protects us from the wind and precipitation by minimizing how both of these elements draw heat from the layered protection zone around our body.

For my shell layer, I still prefer heavy leather because it offers a fashionable way to give me abrasion protection in the event of a fall while at the same time offering an excellent wind blocker. When treated with the right kinds of oils, leather resists moisture penetration and remains flexible even in sub-freezing temperatures. 

I own a ridiculously expensive Willie G. Harley-Davidson leather jacket. I've had a long love-hate relationship with it and maybe some day I will blog about it. I will say that it offers exceptional wind protection. It ought it; it's so damned thick and heavy.

I own two pairs of chaps. One lined and one unlined. The lined pair, shown in the photo at left, creates a layer of insulating air in the upper sections, and this makes them very functional in cold weather. They're a tight fit over the lined jeans, but the combination has gotten me through a sudden snowstorm.

Avoid the wind as much as possible

In order to minimize heat loss from convection, we want to minimize how much of our body is exposed to the wind. I grew up in Buffalo, New York, where damp winds of 20mph and greater coming off Lake Erie are common, especially in the autumn and winter. I learned about wind chill through much painful experience.

Note that even if conditions are dry, there will still be significant convective heat loss in areas exposed to wind, even in the small eddies behind our fairings.

When riding in rain or wet snow, we will also experience significant heat loss from evaporation on the surface of the shell layer. How much depends on the humidity and exposure to the wind: lower humidity and higher wind at the surface of our shell layer will accelerate evaporation and thus the loss of heat.

Heated Garments

More than a decade ago when I resumed my riding hobby, I purchased an electric vest. It was a Widder and it didn't last long. I liked the way it fit and looked, so I purchased another one. Amazingly, it shrunk a size for no apparent reason (OK, I got fat), and so I ordered a larger one. That one soon quit heating. Apparently a wire broke inside.  Somewhere in all this I purchased a pair of Widder electric gloves (shown in the photo at left). I still have one or two of the vests. They're lightweight Thinsulate® garments that offer some heat loss protection even without the heating elements.

Heated gloves versus heated grips

I wore the gloves a few times but it was a hassle connecting them each time I wanted to resume riding. I recommend heated grips instead, if you can swing that. The gloves are also quite bulky. However, for long rides in the cold, they offer superior thermal protection. 

Aerostitch electric vests

I purchased an Aerostitch Darien riding suit back in 2001 or 2002. I'm still using it. So, when I gave up on the Wiider gear after the third vest stopped working, I went with an Aerostitch Kanetsu heated vest (shown in the photos below). I love it. It's been very reliable now for more than five years and it does a great job of keeping my neck warm.

The trick to making a vest most effective is choosing how many layers to wear between it and your skin. On my recent Thanksgiving ride, I wore it over the REI undershirt, which is as close to my skin as I ever wear it. On warmer days, when the temperature ranges from mid-50s to mid-70s, I will wear the vest over the undershirt and a second shirt, often a turtleneck.

Having the electric vest on a ride is great because it allows you to operate in cooler temperatures without the need for bulky clothing on top. If conditions become warmer, you can simply press the power button to turn off the vest. If the ambient air temperature continues to rise, you can pull over and stow the vest in your saddle bag.

Gear like the electric vest prove especially helpful on cross country rides where on one day you might be in the Arizona desert and two days later you're at 10,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies and above the snow line. (That's happened to me.)

My friends have teased me since the first day I rode plugged in. But after a few times in the mountains at 40°F, their sentiment turns more toward envy than ridicule.

A tip for keeping your feet warm

There are two key prerequisites for keeping your feet warm in cold weather: (1) keep them dry; and (2) insulate them from the wind. The three layers rule applies to your feet just as much as it does to the rest of your body.

A great lesson I learned a few years back, from my friend Cutter, is the use of galoshes. I bought a pair on eBay ealier this year for about $30 and they work great as a shell for keeping my feet dry and warm. They're certainly not much to look at, but they work great! 

Remember to avoid riding after dark at this time of year because of possible icy road conditions and wandering deer; and never ride when the roads are know to be icy.

Keep the shiny side up!

-The Long Rider

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*OK, I realize you can have icy roads above 30°F. However, if you stick to riding in daylight in cold conditions, you can reduce your risk of riding on ice by observing road conditions very carefully. Do not ride at night if the temperature gets down to 35°F or colder because you cannot see where snow and ice may have accumulated on the road.

**If you become soaked through all the layers of your clothing in a heavy rain or snow, you will actually begin to lose heat by conduction through the moisture, much like a scuba diver in a cold ocean.

Replacing your brake pads (Part 2)

(11/24/2013) So, how do you know when you need to change your brake pads? Go to your maintenance manual and look for the specification. In my HD Service Manual (Part No. 99483-06), Chapter 2: Chasis, the Motor Company tells us that if the pad thickness is less than 0.04 inches (1.02 mm), it's time to replace them.*

In the photo at right, you can see one of my old front pads. At the thinnest point on any of the four, the pad thickness measured 1/32" or 0.01325 inches (0.8 mm). Replacement was clearly overdue.

By the way, these old pads were HD Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and lasted me about 45,000 miles. I can live with that. They were my second set. The original pads lasted until about 45K miles and now I'm at 90K.

Measuring pad thickness

Check out this helpful video from J&P Cycles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEKaI_gKJ8Q

In this video, the mechanic (or "tech") shows you how to measure the front pads' thickness while they're still on the bike. By the way, look closely: the pads he's removing look pretty good to me. Guess that's OK when you're point is to make an instructional video and someone else is paying. :-)

Brake pads come with grooves etched in them perpendicular to the motion of the rotor. If you've worn the pads down so the grooves are gone, it's time to change them. As you can see in the photo above--no sign of any grooves. They're long gone. Unfortunately, you really can't see the grooves--or lack thereof--until you've got the darned things off.

Bolt head oddity

The first thing you should know before you begin to remove your old brake pads is the odd mix of tools you will need: for the calipers, you need a 10mm, 12-point socket or box wrench. For the pad pins, you will need a 1/4" 12-point socket or box wrench. Yes, one is metric and the other English. And I'd swear that those bolt heads are Torx, but 12-point sockets do the trick. I tried Torx sockets and they don't work, and you sure don't want to strip these bolt heads!

If you have some painter's tape handy, use that to cover your fender so you avoid damaging it when you slide the caliper off the rotor.

You do not, apparently, have to remove your front wheel to change pads. This is my second time replacing front brake pads and I've removed the wheel both times. It takes longer, but I find it diffcult to get the calipers past my fender otherwise. (Maybe next time I'll try doing the job without taking the wheel off and use some patience instead.) I also remove the rear wheel when I change pads, which apparently is unnecessary as well. I guess I tend to do things the hard way.

I'm not going to go into the details of the process. The maintenance manual and YouTube videos do a great job of that. However, I will say that you should go to several sources for instructions before you begin. Even if you've changed pads before, as I have. It's a task you do so infrequently, it's easy to forget something important; and you might learn something new.

For example, in one of the videos I watched, I learned that there's something called "pad lube" that you apply to the backs of the new pads when you install them. Unfortunately, I learned about pad lube after I installed me new pads. Doh! I'm going to replace my rear pads in March and when I do I will pull these front pads off and apply some of that lubricant.

I added some brake fluid and took her out for a ride yesterday. The new brakes feel the best they've ever been. Unfortunately, I hear a faint sqeaking noise when I pull on the front brake lever. Let's see if it lasts for very long. If they continue to squeak, you'll be hearing from me in this post with a follow-up bitching about my new EBC organic pads. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Keep the shiny side up and pray for a short, mild winter!

-The Long Rider

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*Important note: I heard a guy in one of the YouTube videos say that when the pads reach "sixteen thousandths of an inch" it's time to change them. That would be 0.0016 inches. I am confident that he's very wrong. That's paper thin; another tap of the brakes and you'll be eating rotor.

Replacing your brake pads (Part 1)

(11/23/2013) A friend of mine tells me that he won't change his own brake pads for safety reasons: he's afraid he might do something wrong and compromise his safety riding the bike. I don't argue with him. He's entitled to what I consider a reasonable opinion. However, given my experience with Harley-Davidson "technicians," especially this year, I feel a whole lot safer changing my own brake pads.

Changing the pads themselves isn't too difficult, though there are some potential gotchas. You should read your maintenance manual first and watch a video or two before you start. I will include some links in part 2 of this article, when I cover the actual installation of pads. It's important to review multiple sources of information because I noticed each seems to leave something important out, such as what size wrench to use or whether or not to use pad lube.

In part 3 of this series on brake pads, I will discuss brake grease and a bit more about the wear groove in each pad.

Buy pads that fit your bike

The real first step is exploring your options. I started at the parts counter of the local Harley-Davidson dealership and found that $55 per pair for the HD pads was too much to spend without at least a little investigation first. I needed to change my front brakes, and that meant purchasing at least two pairs of pads. I was thus doubly motivated to invest a little time before making a purchase.

I got the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) number for the pads: HD 44082-00D from the friendly man at the HD parts counter. After reading through listings on Amazon and eBay, I discovered that 44082-00C pads would probably work as well, and pads claiming to replace HD 44082-00 in general were likely a safe bet.

Price range

Right away I noticed two issues: (1) the available pads came in multiple materials, and (2) prices varied greatly. It became clear that regarding price, the lower end of the spectrum were Chinese-made products. As I am not trusting my life to products from the Peoples' Republic, I ruled out the cheap pads. That left American and British products. I'm OK with either of those. The Brits have made some outstanding motorcycles over the years, so I feel comfortable buying from them.

Material options

After I decided that I wasn't going to get a decent pair of pads for less than $34 or so, I moved on to my technical options. I had never given my bikes' brake pads this much thought before and was surprised by how much I didn't know. (In the past, I simply bought the OEM pads from the local dealer.) For example, I had never heard of "sintered" pads. I had put ceramic brake pads on my Jeep earlier this year, so I was surprised when ceramic pads weren't even part of the conversation regarding my Harley--at least in the early phase of my research.

Well, after a little more digging I found that some sintered pads are actually ceramic pads with metallic particles sintered into the material.

Pad materials various bikers and vendors cited were

1. sintered (metal);
2. Kevlar (or Carbon-Kevlar);
3. organic; and
4. the OEM semi-metal.

I believe that "organic" actually covers the Carbon-Kelvar category. (Refer to the photo above depicting the backside of the EBC brake pads package for a description of sintered versus organic pads.) Confused yet? Me too; I kind of gave up after a while trying to absorb it all.

Technical characteristics to consider

My next goal was to figure out what these materials represented in terms of the five key technical traits to consider in brake pads:

1. friction coefficient (stopping power)
2. longevity
3. dust
4. quietness (as in not squeaking in wet or dry conditions)
5. effect(s) on the rotors

I was also surprised to discover how often squeaking pads are a problem for people. I can say at least one positive thing for the OEM pads (at $55 per pair): they were quiet. (Here's a little preview: my new EBC pads sqeak a little, but just a little. We'll see if that goes away as they wear in.)

As I do not have wide white walls and I clean my bike regularly anyway, I was not concerned with dust.

What you begin to see if that there are some parallels to tires: you make tradeoffs among these material traits. Like tires, you can get better performance (traction) but you sacrifice longevity. Likewise with brake pads: when you buy the pads that give you greater grip, you sacrifice longevity. Choose what's most important to you and purchase your pads based on those characteristics.

I'm willing to trade off longevity for more stopping power. So, I went with EBC organic pads. I found many positive reviews for EBC pads concerning their ability to grab the rotor effectively. They also apparently treat the Harley rotors very well. (I bought my EBC pads online from J&P Cycles for $33.99 per pair.)

In my next article, I will discuss the process of actually replacing the front pads on my Harley touring bike.

As always, keep the shiny side up ... and pray for a short, mild winter.

-The Long Rider