Luse headlight/body attachment screws on brand new bike.

Vermalien

New Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2019
Messages
7
Location
boston
Hey everyone. I have put on 2500 miles on my 2018 ST ES and am loving it so far! I have been tweaking it here and there to make it my own, and one item I replaced were the side marker bulbs inside the headlight with brighter amber LED units. As I was removing the windscreen, then plastic shroud, and finally the headlight assembly, I was displeased to find that all of the screw and bolts were super loose. The phillips heads in particular weren't even finger tight, while the four bolts holding the headlight were, but just barely. It made me concerned that either the dealership at one point removed the headlight for some reason and never put it back properly, which then made me wonder what reason it was. My other theory and concern was that if this was a factory fault, what other nuts and bolts were potentially loose?

Anyway, what are your thoughts?
 
R

RonH

Guest
The torque specs are really low for all the phillips screws, about 4 in/lb I believe. I have several torque screwdrivers and if I take off any of the headlight or windshield phillips screws for any reason and reinstall to the torque spec (look in service manual, virtually every screw has a torque spec), everything is fine, but if I go back and recheck later all are loose to some extent and can be tightened further to spec, but fruitless to try to continually check them as they never fall off. Just torque to spec and forget and they will never fall off. Guys thay have problems are the ones who wrench these screws too tight.
 

Vermalien

New Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2019
Messages
7
Location
boston
The torque specs are really low for all the phillips screws, about 4 in/lb I believe. I have several torque screwdrivers and if I take off any of the headlight or windshield phillips screws for any reason and reinstall to the torque spec (look in service manual, virtually every screw has a torque spec), everything is fine, but if I go back and recheck later all are loose to some extent and can be tightened further to spec, but fruitless to try to continually check them as they never fall off. Just torque to spec and forget and they will never fall off. Guys thay have problems are the ones who wrench these screws too tight.
Perfect. Just what I was really hoping to read. Thanks!
 
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