Blue Loctite Makes for a Crappy Mod Day

[Karson]

So I'm all pumped today to start putting in my ddmtuning HID kit and led marker lights. So I get started, talk to Jaxon and PM a few folks for advice before I get in too deep and begin taking the headlight surround plastics out to start with the markers. I take my touratech guard off and try to loosen the mounts and they ABSOLUTELY will not budge. Immediately thoughts of blue loctite and rubber expanding nuts comes to mind from when I needed to take my windshield off. That was a circle jerk in itself and ended with a week downtime for rubber nuts!

So I go to Ace Hardware and get a mini butane torch to try and heat it up. I got one out, but the other three are stuck solid. Get online to Stadium Yamaha and order a new headlight surround (only $20) and some new expanding nuts. The surround is backordered until at least Sept 4th. Damn! I order it anyway.

I know what it's going to take to get done, a dremel to chop up the surround to get access to a) cut the nuts off or be able to hold them with a vice grips while I loosen. It just sucks that I'm going to have to wait >1mo b/c of stupidity of putting blue loctite on rubber nuts.

Might be common knowledge to everyone here to err on the side of caution before putting the blue goop on your bolts, but if not, this is my story.

-K

 

[jajpko]

Sorry to hear your having problems with the surround. Blue Loc-tite has a low melting point and the torch should have worked.
What I use is a soldering iron. Not one of the small ones for circuit boards, but a large one. A two stage Weller will work on most also.'

Let the bolt heat up and you may get lucky and have the others loosen up also. Try tightening them first while hot and then loosen.
Good luck

 

[Karson]

Thanks, Jim. I picked up this little guy and it has a solder tip that i might try. Fits in the hole perfectly, so perhaps a more direct heat on the threaded stem will break it loose. Tightening it then loosening it is a good tip, too.

 

[JonnyCinco]

If that doesn't work...May I suggest:

 

[Curt]

After having lost a well nut screw from my windscreen, I went and LocTited all the well nut screws. What a mistake. Well nuts are rendered permanent by LocTite because the rubber turns inside the well with less friction than the screw turns inside the nut. I was unable to change out the screen in time for a big trip.

After the trip, I was able to get them out easily by locking vice grips tightly on the nut side of the well nut, rubber and all. Of course, the well nuts were destroyed and had to be replaced.

 

[hojo in sc]

I don't get it, blue Loc Tight has never been a problem for me and I use it all the time.

 

[MidlifeMotor]

I wish I had used blue loc tite on the bolts for my lock to my OEM top case like I was supposed to. Lost the lock on a ride today with Nchristi and Bugkiller. ::010::

 

[jajpko]

I don't get it, blue Loc Tight has never been a problem for me and I use it all the time.

It usually is not a problem, but on a well nut it can be hell. Never use on plastic or well nuts.. Here endith the lesson. ::025::

 

[Karson]

It usually is not a problem, but on a well nut it can be hell. Never use on plastic or well nuts.. Here endith the lesson. ::025::

Yeah on the rubber well nuts you better have access to them or a) you're screwed or b) you're going to need a butane torch and a lot of luck

Like Jim said - lesson learned. My KLR needed loc-tite on every fastener that held the thing together, this bike is much smoother and doesn't need it as badly, imo. But again, don't use it on rubber nuts.