first time helicoil experience
Posted: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:19 am
Right, about 6 months ago I was taking the forks apart to change the oil and grease the headstock bearings. As I tried to remove the bolt on the top yoke that clamps the bolt the giraffe snapped. Right, fag and cup of tea to stop me throwing something, calm down take the top yoke off, take it round to a mates house and used his pillar drill to drill the bolt out, it workedand I got it right so I just picked out the remnants of the bolt (titanium nitride dormer drill bits are awesome!). Put it back on and it worked. Then last week found the bolt had stripped out. So thought I would try a helicoil kit, never used one before but I didn't have anything to lose
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380715107239?redirect=mobile
Bought this, turned up in 2 days, got it today and had a go. The hole was awkward to drill because I had to go through the clamp, I kept stepping up the drill bits (not advised, blunts the edges) as the supplied kept binding. So then got the tap out, coated with oil and tapped the hole after cleaning it out, half a turn forward then quarter turn back to break the swarf. Cleaned the hole out again, got the insert, coated with red loctite, then using the took wound it in so there so the insert wad half a thread below the surface, took the tool out and using the punch, broke of the tang, left for 10 minutes and then put the bolt I and it worked lovely.
So that's how its put in, I think its a nice little kit to have in your toolkit. Some say timeserts are better but have not tried them. I thing i was worried about was the insert coming out, the torque value is 20Nm, as a test I did up to 50Nm and it was fine, would use again, if there are any problems I'll report back, hope this helps someone who is looking for some information
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380715107239?redirect=mobile
Bought this, turned up in 2 days, got it today and had a go. The hole was awkward to drill because I had to go through the clamp, I kept stepping up the drill bits (not advised, blunts the edges) as the supplied kept binding. So then got the tap out, coated with oil and tapped the hole after cleaning it out, half a turn forward then quarter turn back to break the swarf. Cleaned the hole out again, got the insert, coated with red loctite, then using the took wound it in so there so the insert wad half a thread below the surface, took the tool out and using the punch, broke of the tang, left for 10 minutes and then put the bolt I and it worked lovely.
So that's how its put in, I think its a nice little kit to have in your toolkit. Some say timeserts are better but have not tried them. I thing i was worried about was the insert coming out, the torque value is 20Nm, as a test I did up to 50Nm and it was fine, would use again, if there are any problems I'll report back, hope this helps someone who is looking for some information