I’m a bike build newbie. SRAM says to use 5 Nm torque when attaching calipers to the frame.
However my bolt isn’t even halfway in and the torque wrench starts clicking. Am I doing something wrong?
(Nb I was holding up the caliper when trying to tighten the bolt, it wasn’t just hanging off the bolt like in the photo. No load was on the bolt.)
by bikeman72636
9 Comments
Cross threading?
Try it without the caliper on, you should be able to screw the bolt in with your fingers.
Sounds like it’s cross threaded or there is a problem with the bolt or the hole. Inspect them both really closely.
How long is the bolt, could it be bottoming out?
You can replace the bolt if needed or run a tap through the threads if they’re damaged.
I took the calipers off and just tried to screw in the bolts by hand. They go in very easily until I hit the small blue spot of locktite that SRAM has on their supplied bolts. Should I remove this somehow (how?) and put a drop of wet locktite on vs the dry stale one that has probably been on the bolt since it left the factory a year ago?
Torque wrenches are not for tightening bolts all the way, but for doing the last 2-3 turns. This is to stop errors like this from happening, but also because a torque wrench isn’t a tightening tool but more of a precision measuring tool. Also cross threading is a possibility, but you shouldn’t need a torque wrench to find that out. Just hand tighten the bolt, and if it’s way too much force (especially on the piece of thread without locktite) then you’ve probably cross threaded and should take your bike to a shop.
Did you check the length of the bolt against the frame? Is it the correct one?
The bolt should go all the way in without much force. But hard to tell what went wrong. I would remove the caliper and see if just the bolt threads in correctly. Maybe the caliper is slightly misaligned and cause the bolt to cross-thread.
Bolts could be too long? I’d check with the frame/fork manufacturer.
How long is the bolt? Maybe post a picture of it. It’s possible that it’s cross-threaded or the fork has unclean threads. I generally remove the loctite.
You’ve the wrong size bolt for the frame
5Nm? That´s low. Are you sure about that?