[Jeep Pirate]

One of these grease fitting strings should become a sticky.

Not sure what a sticky is. But if it means that everyone who comes on the VN900 section will see it, I agree that it should be a... sticky?

Does anyone know who the forum administrator is?


For a second there I expected to hear a large booming voice from overhead say...
"YES, I AM THE ADMINISTRATOR.... WHAT DO YOU WANT!?!"
I am imagining an old grey haired guy with pointy ears for some reason.

 

[MN-Rider]

Not sure what a sticky is. But if it means that everyone who comes on the VN900 section will see it, I agree that it should be a... sticky?

Does anyone know who the forum administrator is?


For a second there I expected to hear a large booming voice from overhead say...
"YES, I AM THE ADMINISTRATOR.... WHAT DO YOU WANT!?!"
I am imagining an old grey haired guy with pointy ears for some reason.

I hear you my son...

It is now a sticky.

 

[Jimmythib]

OK, here is where they are and probably one of the better solutions:

Look at the back end of the bike, just in front of the rear tire. Now go under the bike.

Two are on the bottom of the rocker arm casting. Note one is already sheared away and the other I just put back in for this picture; it is a little mushed.

The third is on the front of the casting. Where it is located it is most likely OK. In this picture you can also get a better look at the one that has sheared off.

This last shot is with two of the zerks removed and replaced with allen head bolts and lock washers.

The lock washers are probably not necessary, as the zerks were not bottomed out nor did they use washers, but I used them anyway. As for the length of the bolts, I had a few M6-1.0 x20mm ones in my garage, I cut the threaded length in about half. The casting is very deep and didn't seem to have any problems. I did not replace the front zerk.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jeep Pirate]

Oh great Administrator... I thank your for your sticky approval. Now if you can just make my tires last 50,000 miles, I would be set. Thanks again.

 

[MN-Rider]

Oh great Administrator... I thank your for your sticky approval. Now if you can just make my tires last 50,000 miles, I would be set. Thanks again.

Dunno about 50,000 but give these a try.

 

[Helek_52]

I replaced mine last weekend. I found that an atv/motorcycle lift makes life a LOT easier when i went to grease the fittings first before removing them.

 

[Knightshade]

Where the heck are you all getting the replacement bolts at? I picked up some Allen head steel bolts M6-1.0 x 8mm at Home Depot and the threading is not the same, so I didn't use them.

 

[kray]

OSH and Ace both had them for me. Just make sure you get the right pitch.

 

[oquirrhvulcan]

Where the heck are you all getting the replacement bolts at? I picked up some Allen head steel bolts M6-1.0 x 8mm at Home Depot and the threading is not the same, so I didn't use them.

The correct thread and pitch is M6-1.0. Home Depot possibly had them stocked incorrectly. I went with set screws initially but changed over to Button heads, M6-1.0 x 10mm long. I got them at CAL Ranch. You'd have a long ride to find a CAL Ranch near you though.

 

[Jeep Pirate]

McMaster Carr and Fastenal are industrial suppliers with websites and stores in most big towns. They definitely have the bolts you are looking for and usually you can either get them online or at the local store. You may have to buy a bag of 5 or 10, but it isn't to bad. At least you don't have to own an industrial business to get an account.

 

[Knightshade]

Color me officially snockered then. I just don't get how you guys/gals are getting these things to fit unless you're more or less re-threading as you put them in. The zerk fittings are tapered, whereas the M6-1.0mm bolts I've gotten at both Home Depot & Ace Hardware are not.

The zerk fitting itself fits into a M6-1.0 nut itself, but it's a really sloppy fit, so something is not quite right.

Coincidentally, I took my bike to the dealer today for its first "It's now my bike, so I want to make sure the previous owner's mistakes are wiped free" service. I figured that they've have an infinite number of bolts to draw from, one of which would fit. They basically said that nothing they have would fit...

So can I just hope that since I'm only 150 lbs, that I shouldn't be bottoming out the bike anytime soon and shearing them off or what?

 

[Jeep Pirate]

Hey Knightshade-
I am not sure why you are having trouble with the bolts going in. Maybe because you haven't whacked it like I did, the threads are still tight. I would take a M6-1.0 bottoming tap and run it up in there if necessary to install the bolts. The fittings should still go in well enough to put grease in on occasion.

As for just hoping that you won't bottom out. Well thats a thought. But I have had to drive across 2x4 lumber in the road that someone lost. At the 40-45mph that I was able to slow down to before I hit it, I think it would have wacked the fittings. With that said, it is your bike and you should definitely do what you think is best. Even if you loose a fitting, it is not the end of the world. More than likely, you will still have enough thread left to put bolts in at that point. Most folks have found that the zerk only goes in about 1/3 of the total depth of the threads.

 

[bass567]

Alternative for Plugging the Zerk Holes?

I was fixing this on my bike this past weekend and had similar problems.

First I got what Pirate and a few others recommended (M6-1.0 10mm, button head) from Home Depot. They did not have them in stainless steel, just nickel-plated. When I tried to screw them in I thought I got a wrong size/threading or something - it was so hard to fit it in the holes.

I did not want to use too much force and ruin the inner thread so I went back to HD and got a metric 6mm nut. I tried to fit the screws in it. They went in kinda OK, but when I tried the zerks with the same nut they were definitely MUCH more loose. I thought these things should have minimal tolerance... Apparently not.

At the end I decided for something different: I got those threaded studs (you know they kinda look like screws with a chopped-off head). M6x10.0 8mm long. They had them in the same drawer - they cost nothing (<$1 for a bag of 4) They went in somewhat easier than the regular screws I tried earlier. I screwed them in totally flush which I thought was cool -- there is nothing to shear off anymore, no matter what you hit.

My only concern was they they may become loose and they can eventually come out. But they went in quite tight, so I just check them in a few months to see how they hold up.

What do you guys think?

 

[sandman20]

I work with 2 guys that also have 900 Vulcans. I asked them to look under their bikes at the link.......both had sheared off grease fittings. Not sure but on mine it appeared that original threads are M6x1. My M6 x 1 tap threaded rright in the hole with no effort. Using the button head screws on my bike. My bike had plenty of road smegma and grease in the threads that needed cleaning out so that could be why you had some resistance. Nyloc set screws would be an elegant solution, nothing to bottom and the nylon slug would prevent them from coming loose.

 

[Jimmythib]

I would guess that the resistance was that some of the threads were partially stripped out from the old zerk being pulled out. When you tried threading in the button head screw you were basically cleaning out or re-tapping the threads. There should be no difference in the threads on a button head screw and a set screw of the same diameter and pitch. If there was one was mislabeled at the store.

The problem that might arise with the set screw is that there is no "bottom" to the hole. So, instead of having the set screw work its way out the big problem could be if it worked its way into the casting.

 

[bass567]

Jimmythib, I hear your point, but there are two things to point out:

1. The zerks that I took out were completely untouched. The bike (and even the bottom of it) was in the near-showroom condition -- it has only a few hundred miles of very humble driving on it. So there was no grime nor dirt in the threads or anything of that sort.

2. Still, the difference how the zerks feel in a 6mm nut compared to the button-head screws is noticeable, if you pay attention. But both are 6mm, otherwise they would not fit in the thread of the 6mm nut one way or the other (too big or too small to be screwed in).

As far as the "no bottom" issue: the set screws I used were only 8mm long, so if you leave them flush, they reach about the same "depth" as the original zerks, although it appears that the hole accommodates a 10mm screw with no problems (many people suggested that length and it seems to be working OK for them.

We will see how the set screws hold up - I will give a report on them in a few months (or any problems I may have in the meantime). I like this solution best as there is nothing sticking out and nothing could be scraped off that would damage the inner thread.

 

[Knightshade]

At the end I decided for something different: I got those threaded studs (you know they kinda look like screws with a chopped-off head). M6x10.0 8mm long. They had them in the same drawer - they cost nothing (<$1 for a bag of 4) They went in somewhat easier than the regular screws I tried earlier. I screwed them in totally flush which I thought was cool -- there is nothing to shear off anymore, no matter what you hit.

If they're flush...how the heck are you going to take them out?

 

[bass567]

With a small-size Allen wrench.

If they hold in place over time, this is probably the best solution out there, IMO.

 

[Knightshade]

With a small-size Allen wrench.

If they hold in place over time, this is probably the best solution out there, IMO.

Any chance you can share the HD part #?

 

[bass567]

Any chance you can share the HD part #?

Sure, this is what the pouch says:

Set Screw Socket 6mm x 8mm (2pcs)
Packaged and Distributed by Crown Bolt

UPC: 0 30699 82898 2

I am sure that the clerk can look it up by the UPC number for you.

But assuming that most Home Depots are quite similar -- just go to the hardware isle, they have these wide drawers there with washers, nuts, bolts and all sorts of odd pieces. They have a few drawers marked "Metric", I found them in the second one I pulled out.

They come packaged in these white mini plastic bags. That's why they don't hang them up on the walls like most of the other fasteners that don't come in bulk.

I am sure other places carry them too. This is something essentially identical from McMaster Carr (I think Pirate suggested this site a while back).

http://www.mcmaster.com/#91390a127/=4g6wbk

I bough them in plain steel. McMaster has them in many finishes. Stainless steel is probably pointless for a screw that is fully hidden, moreover at such an oily place...