Over torqued crankshaft hole cap

Tdinova

Tdinova

Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
942
Location
Nova Scotia
Bike
'07STA
Last night a fellow ST biker called me over to help check his valve clearance. When I got there I found out the crankshaft hole cap was stuck. He had it rounded pretty good. He had a chisel and I broke it free for him. The last person must have had it over torqued.
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Mine were overtorqued by one of the two previous owners as well. Fortunately, broke free with just some scuffs on the gloves. I know what my pucker factor was. Nice work freeing them.
 
There is a second, and I think more probable cause for the difficulty you encountered when trying to remove that crankshaft hole cap: The last person to remove and replace it didn't pay attention to the fine print in the Service Manual, which states "Apply Grease to the Threads".

I went into the Service Manual to find the torque for that cap and the little timing hole cap above it, and saw the "Note 7" beside each torque value. Note 7 says "Apply Grease to the Threads".

The torque values for both of those caps are extremely low. I guess, though, with a new O-ring installed on each one and grease on the threads, the very low torque is sufficient, because I can't ever recall seeing a post where someone has complained about oil leaks from either of those plugs.

Michael

Service Manual Specifications - Timing Hole and Crank Access Hole caps
Grease on threads.jpg
 
It's an opening on the front of the engine block that provides access to the front end of the crankshaft.

It and a smaller hole below, that reveals the timing marks used when checking valve clearances, have threaded caps that close them for engine opwration.
 
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Wow, I missed that note but I haven’t had any problems with either cap. I will be sure to grease them up next time.
 
DeanR said:
What's the crankshaft hole?
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dwalby said:
ah, that's from a 1300, the 1100 has two hex head bolts, much harder to round off. Nice work, he owes you a beer.
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ibike2havefun said:
It's an opening on the front of the engine block that provides access to the front end of the crankshaft.
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Unless I'm missing something, they don't exist on my 1100's. Unless referring to the bolts that hold the timing cover on.
Did my valves a few months ago.
 
DeanR said:
What's the crankshaft hole?
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Below is a picture that identifies the two caps (holes) on a ST 1300, and also shows you what the holes allow you access to.

The upper hole (smaller one) lets you view the timing marks, one of which is visible at the 2 o'clock position in the right-hand photo. The lower hole lets you put a 17 mm socket onto the front of the engine crankshaft and manually rotate the engine to move the timing mark to the very top position, so that it is visible through the smaller hole.

Michael

ST 1300
Timing and Crankshaft Holes.jpg
 
CYYJ said:
Below is a picture that identifies the two caps (holes) on a ST 1300, and also shows you what the holes allow you access to.

The upper hole (smaller one) lets you view the timing marks, one of which is visible at the 2 o'clock position in the right-hand photo. The lower hole lets you put a 17 mm socket onto the front of the engine crankshaft and manually rotate the engine to move the timing mark to the very top position, so that it is visible through the smaller hole.

Michael

ST 1300
Timing and Crankshaft Holes.jpg
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I bet you just ran out to the garage, stripped off all the plastics, took the radiator and front of the engine off, and snapped those photos, didn't you? Or were you using the spare engine you keep on your desk as a conversation piece?

Either way, that sure is a clean piece of hardware... :)
 
Actually, I took the front cover off for repainting because it had quite a bit of corrosion on it, even though the bike is a 2012. The first owner, from whom I bought the bike in 2015, was a lobster fisherman who lived right on the oceanfront in Nova Scotia. I think he must have parked the thing on the beach.

It is nice to have the cover off, though. I checked the valve clearances a few days ago - no worries about the cam chain falling down the hole, easy to see the chain tensioner move, and of course, no fooling around with mirrors and flashlights to look through that little hole for the timing mark.

With the big cover off, I also was able to determine that the valves had never been done before - the nut that the 17 mm socket goes on to turn the engine over was in pristine condition, it had never seen a socket wrench applied to it.

Michael
 
ibike2havefun said:
I bet you just ran out to the garage, stripped off all the plastics, took the radiator and front of the engine off, and snapped those photos, didn't you? Or were you using the spare engine you keep on your desk as a conversation piece?

Either way, that sure is a clean piece of hardware... :)
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These pictures look a little fuzzy and out of focus to me :)

Kidding aside, if you've seen a few CYYJ posts you'll notice they set the standard for completeness and great illustrative pictures.
 
ReSTored said:
Kidding aside, if you've seen a few CYYJ posts you'll notice they set the standard for completeness and great illustrative pictures.
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Thank you for the kind words.

The photos & text are a consequence of me getting stuck re-writing a complete set of Aircraft Flight Manuals and Aircraft Maintenance Manuals for a 19 seat commuter aircraft in the year before I retired. The company wanted me to allocate 3 years' time to supervising the technical writers and acting as subject matter expert - I said to heck with that, I want to retire, I'll do the work myself and get it done in half the time. Turned out it only needed 1/3 the time.

Michael
 
CYYJ said:
The company wanted me to allocate 3 years' time to supervising the technical writers and acting as subject matter expert - I said to heck with that, I want to retire, I'll do the work myself and get it done in half the time. Turned out it only needed 1/3 the time.
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Since they projected it would take 9 or more person-years of labor and expense to do that rewrite and you got it done in one on your own, I hope you got some large fraction of 3 years' pay at your rate, plus what it would have cost them for each of the writers the company didn't have to employ for that task.
 
DeanR said:
Unless I'm missing something, they don't exist on my 1100's. Unless referring to the bolts that hold the timing cover on.
Did my valves a few months ago.
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yes, its the 1100 timing cover I was referring to. Remove the cover and you have access to the crankshaft, which you turn to rotate the pistons for alignment during a valve clearance check. So timing cover/crankshaft hole, same thing.
 
A follow-up to post #9 above - here's a close-up picture of what the timing marks look like when the front crankcase cover is removed. Hopefully this will help you know what you are looking for when you are peeking through that little inspection hole (with a mirror) trying to find a timing mark.

Michael

Timing Marks
Timing Marks.jpg
 
I encountered the same problem today with my crankshaft cap being difficult to remove. I didn't tighten it too much the last time I had it off either. It seemed to crack and come apart easily this time as I tried to loosen it. I guess a chisel is the proper thing to do now. I tried it a little already, but my back told me to take a break.
 
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