I was torque wrenching my SC Hightower with a new torque wrench and I wasn’t hearing a click and over tightened and broke the screw. What is this and is it an easy fix??
If you don’t know what the bolt is, how did you determine it’s torque spec
C0YI on
From memory SC axels thread in from the other side then that bolt is a wedge that secures it. Looking at it I’m assuming you should just be able to wind it out from the other side with a 8/10mm Allen wrench as the tapered washer / cap head combo isn’t there.
I may also have totally forgotten how my Megatower went together.
mruprising on
Santa Cruz bikes have collet style pivot axles. Basically there is a larger aluminum “axle” or bolt that runs through the linkage, which needs to be at a relatively higher torque than the collet. The collet washer is conical, which interfaces with the pivot axle, expanding the end of the pivot axle, effectively locking it in place. The collet washer has its own, separate smaller bolt. Seems like you tightened the collet bolt to the higher torque spec for the pivot axle.
Edit: in the first photo you can see the broken collet bolt in the pivot axle. It’s the shiny bit in the center. At this point you should probably just replace the pivot axle and collet bolt/washer. You’ll need to extract the pivot axle, I’ve used screw type extractors on SC pivot axles before. If you’re not comfortable with this, bring it to a shop, preferably a SC dealer, they have likely dealt with this before
3 Comments
If you don’t know what the bolt is, how did you determine it’s torque spec
From memory SC axels thread in from the other side then that bolt is a wedge that secures it. Looking at it I’m assuming you should just be able to wind it out from the other side with a 8/10mm Allen wrench as the tapered washer / cap head combo isn’t there.
I may also have totally forgotten how my Megatower went together.
Santa Cruz bikes have collet style pivot axles. Basically there is a larger aluminum “axle” or bolt that runs through the linkage, which needs to be at a relatively higher torque than the collet. The collet washer is conical, which interfaces with the pivot axle, expanding the end of the pivot axle, effectively locking it in place. The collet washer has its own, separate smaller bolt. Seems like you tightened the collet bolt to the higher torque spec for the pivot axle.
Edit: in the first photo you can see the broken collet bolt in the pivot axle. It’s the shiny bit in the center. At this point you should probably just replace the pivot axle and collet bolt/washer. You’ll need to extract the pivot axle, I’ve used screw type extractors on SC pivot axles before. If you’re not comfortable with this, bring it to a shop, preferably a SC dealer, they have likely dealt with this before