Steering Stem Nut

[Crossrodes]

Well I finally have the R65 back on the road again after some engine work this spring.  Now I have another problem....

Last year I did a whole bunch of work on the front end and swing arm bearings.  At the end of it I had some wobble.  I played with the adjustments on the swing arm and steering stem and got rid of the wobble.  So now, after having the bike laid up over the winter, spring and a good part of summer I took it for rides over the last few days.

The good news is that the engine work seems to have been successful so far.  

The bad news is that I now have some weaving going on at around 120 kph (70 mph).  I took the bags and windshield off.  I tried 30/32 psi front/rear in the tires (I usually run at close to max pressure stamped on the tires).  The weave is still there.  

So next I was going to adjust the steering head again.  In attempting to loosen the steering head bolt I literally snapped my 48 year old Snap-On 6" extension.  It turns out that it had a flaw in it all these years...you can see the flaw where it snapped.  But I had a REALLY long breaker bar on the extension and exerted lots of torque to loosen the nut and couldn't get it loose. 

I know I would have torqued the nut to spec when I tightened it last year.  The only thing I can think of is that the nut may be a left hand thread.  I know someone out there will know for sure...Is it a left had thread???

[Justin B.]

I don't remember it being a L/H thread.  

Maybe try some higher pressures, at 30/32 all of my bikes will start feeling a bit squirrely.  Unless you have 30 year old tires try 34-35 front and 37-38 rear, that seems to be where mine like to be.  Remember, the recommended tire pressures in the book are for tire technology way back when, not todays tires...

[Crossrodes]

Justin I'll try that tire pressure tomorrow and ride the bike to the Snap-On dealer to get a replacement extension.  I'm not comfortable with that low a pressure myself (30/32), but I'm guessing I'm still going to have the weave at the pressure you recommend.

I guess I'll try my impact gun to loosen the steering head nut.  You would not believe the torque I put on this nut with about a 18" bar when a I snapped the extension.  

I'm guessing that the nut is stainless and the steering head is aluminum and possibly there has been some electrolysis.  Has anyone ever experienced this?  I had this all apart in the spring of '08 so this really surprises me.

[Ed Miller]

Mine came off real hard the other day, sort of snapped lose.  I don't know about the stainless vs. aluminum idea.

My bike was weaving because the swing arm had some free play.  I re-torqued the swing arm bearing pins and lock nuts, made sure there was no play, then the bike stopped weaving and handles fine now.  The bearings felt OK by feel but next time I have the swing arm out to lube splines I'll replace them.  There has to be something wrong in there.

To check, put the bike on the center stand with the rear wheel in the air.  Grab the rear wheel at the back and try to move it from side to side; if you feel any play, see if the swing arm is moving.  If not and you do feel play it's probably the rear wheel bearings.  I don't know what symptoms that would cause because I've not experienced it.

Good luck,

[Crossrodes]

Ed I'll check that also.  I did repack those bearings last year and I went through the process to set up the swing arm...But something is obviously wrong and I'm not going to rule anything out.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Barry]

I had the same problem with that steering head bolt. Had to use a 3ft ext bar and it eventually came loose with a load crack. There was no corrosion it was just tight.   Can't remember the size but it's large diameter thread and doesn't come to any harm from the torque.

Rightly or wrongly I only used about 2/3rds the specified  torque on reassembly. I hoped that wasn't too low given some anti-seize on the threads.
  

[Crossrodes]

OK today I had at it again.  This time I ruined two HUSKY Allen head sockets so I decided to try a Sears socket.  I've ruined that too.  In all cases I've twisted the Allen key right out of the socket.  This nut is TIGHT.

I've been using an 18" bar to try to loosen this sucker.  I can't figure out why it's so tight.  I'm anal about torquing nuts to the correct number (except when the wrong torque value is published somewhere).  Has anyone else run into this problem and how did you solve it.  I tried my air tool which will easily undo wheel nuts but doesn't budge this sucker.  Is drilling it out and replacing it an option?

[Ed Miller]

Wow.  Did you spray it with PB Blaster or other penetrating oil?  

[Barry]

This is a 10mm Allen screw with a deep socket right ?  In fact it's a special screw with an extra wide head. I think it's this large surface area that causes it to stick. I can't remember the thread diameter but it must be at least 14mm your not going to shear it easily.

I  used a quality 10mm Allen wrench and 3ft of heavy iron pipe. This combination easily applied in excess  of 100 ft/lb. The scary bit is what happens if it shears.  All you can do is plan for the impact. I removed the tank and anything else in the way then applied padding as appropriate to me and the bike.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I was wondering if a plain allen key along with a seriously long pipe would be the answer.

It might just twist the key all to heck, though.

[Crossrodes]

I sprayed it with penetrating oil several times.  Today I ordered a 10mm - 1/2" drive socket from an industrial supply store.  It'll be here in a couple of days.  Hopefully I can loosen it with this and a 19" bar.  I'll let you know how it works.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Longer lengths of pipe are cheap in the plumbing section at the hardware.

[Barry]

Mike

You might want to take a look at this thread on a another BMW club forum. This guy finally did it with heat and rapid cooling.

http://www.bmbikes.org.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8523&p=51030&hilit=barry#p51030

[Ed Miller]

Should we be using anti-seize on those things?

[Bob_Roller]

I was thinking the same thing, I don't know if the local environmental conditions may be adding to the situation (coastal salt water city) .

May be something to consider doing, seeing as the nut is aluminum, and the steering stem, is steel .