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CAUTION - RTL Brake calliper bolts are recommended One Time Use only!

ebbeckt

New member
Lesson learned this week. Apparently, the bolts used to secure the brakes callipers to the front wheel frames are recommended to be one time use only. I'm sure plenty will say they've reused with no problems, and I did for 3 out of 4 of my bolts. One broke, same torque setting. Took a lot of work to get it out. Just a note of caution.
 
There are probably more on the bike than we would like to think. Auto manufactures have been using them for long time. Most caliper bolts are torque to yield. Head bolts, sometimes suspension bolts, depending on how they are used. That being said, I have reused the TTY bolts several times. Bad thing is, most times they are manufacturer specific. So we are stuck going back to Can Am for the part.
 
All so could very well be: A. a cover your butt disclaimer (only certified Spyder technician accepted maintenance); or B. simply more part($) so there can be back orders & let other things sit & fail in meantime/perpetually.
 
We reuse the caliper bolts with no issues. However, we do run the threads on a wire wheel, spray them with brake cleaner, and use blue Loctite. Not saying that anyone should do it this way. But the disclaimer is a CYA more than a necessity. Not always the case, of course. But when you run this kind of thing by legal, this is always what you will get.

My suspicion is that dealers don't replace them either. But I have no verification on that.

Bottom line, it's your ride, do what you think best.
 
I believe this is one of those cases of do whatever makes you feel good! I have on everything in my dooryard that has brakes, taken them apart and replaced the same bolts and yes tighten them by hand with nothing on the threads, with no issues for 50 years! Like said above it's a CYA deals! You can stretch a bolt both ways, taking them off, or putting them on, then add Loctite to the deal and you can guess the rest! If you leave the old Loctite on the treads, it will stick that bolt almost as good as new. Just my 2 cents. May I burn in hell! 🙃
 
I believe this is one of those cases of do whatever makes you feel good! I have on everything in my dooryard that has brakes, taken them apart and replaced the same bolts and yes tighten them by hand with nothing on the threads, with no issues for 50 years! Like said above it's a CYA deals! You can stretch a bolt both ways, taking them off, or putting them on, then add Loctite to the deal and you can guess the rest! If you leave the old Loctite on the treads, it will stick that bolt almost as good as new. Just my 2 cents. May I burn in hell! 🙃
You will have plenty of company!
 
On stuff I've worked on, sometimes the repair manuals say use new bolts, most of the time they don't specify. In the former case I've used new bolts, in the latter I've just re-used them if they look okay. Examples of the former: camshaft cap bolts on my Honda CB900C, head bolts on a Ford 2.5L 4-cylinder engine. Examples of the latter: every brake caliper on every vehicle I've ever worked on.

Since the Spyder repair manual says to use new bolts, I figure I will when the time comes. I would prefer my brake calipers to stay connected to my vehicle.
 
Just a suggestion - in this case, when the OEM bolts were put in with the yellow Locktite, or factory product, whatever it is, they are very difficult to remove. Getting them out without using some heat, may put some extreme stress on them, and could cause them to fail later. You really don't know if the factory torqued them with an accurate torque wrench either. It is possible the factory has a bolt runner air gun set at the required torque and is running them in with that or something similar. The settings and adjustment on the air flow to an impact gun or even an electric screw runner are not nearly as accurate as a hand operated torque wrench which has been tested and you know it is very close to what it should be. The hand operated torque wrench, in the case in your tool box, is also not on the assembly line running in bolts eight or more hours a day. Your torque wrench will probably be much more accurate than whatever the assembly line is using.

If you are really concerned about the bolts that the manual says are for one time only usage, then you could put new bolts in the first time you have to take them out, and then put the new bolts in with blue paste Locktite, so that they are not exposed to extreme stress getting them out the next time. You will be putting them back in with your own pampered and tested hand operated torque wrench, so they should never be stressed as the OEM bolts probably were. Of course, the factory reps nor the dealerships are going to tell you the what the assembly line does torque the OEM bolts, so it would be a waste of time asking for that information. It would be a lot of trouble getting the broken Locktite covered stub of a bolt out so you could replace the bolt, so it might be worth changing out the bolts at least one time. The cost of a replacement bolt would not be near as much as the expense of your time and trouble getting a broken bolt stub out, much less several of them. It is just a compromise you could consider.

If you ever get a chance to tour an assembly line of anything, look for the guy who comes along, after the other guy with the screw runner gun gets the bolts lightly seated, and then torque wrench guy torques them down to specs. You won't see the torque wrench guy on any of the uTube assembly line videos either. Many of them are robots arms and some human mechanic might come along after all day running to test and set the torque pressures, but you won't see that in the video either, nor on the assembly line tour.
 
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Are they "Yield To Torque" (YTT) aka stretch bolts?
If so, it would be better to replace them.
I don't believe bolts used in the chassis are TTY (or YTT) bolts. My reasoning is that TTY bolts are not only tightened in a series of torque settings, but also use specific angles of tightening to impart the correct amount of stretch to the bolt. Nowhere in the manual for bolts used in the chassis, for example the brake caliper bolts, is a tightening angle specified.

Some engine bolts are usually TTY bolts, so re-use is not allowed, but I would suspect the manual's instruction to use new bolts in things like the caliper bolts is just corporate CYA policy. Lets be honest - you'd have to be doing something seriously wrong to break a couple of high tensile bolts that are torqued & loctited to spec and have your caliper come loose.
 
I don't believe bolts used in the chassis are TTY (or YTT) bolts. My reasoning is that TTY bolts are not only tightened in a series of torque settings, but also use specific angles of tightening to impart the correct amount of stretch to the bolt. Nowhere in the manual for bolts used in the chassis, for example the brake caliper bolts, is a tightening angle specified.

Some engine bolts are usually TTY bolts, so re-use is not allowed, but I would suspect the manual's instruction to use new bolts in things like the caliper bolts is just corporate CYA policy. Lets be honest - you'd have to be doing something seriously wrong to break a couple of high tensile bolts that are torqued & loctited to spec and have your caliper come loose.
Disclaimer: I'm an electrical engineer, not a mechanical engineer. But I believe there could be various reasons for designing in a TTY bolt. The reason for using one in a brake caliper is probably different than the reason for use in an engine. In a brake caliper it might be to maintain tightness during thermal expansion and contraction of dissimilar metals. (Brake calipers get hot, and I'm pretty sure the bolt is made out of different stuff than the caliper body, or even the caliper mounting bracket.)

Although, like I said earlier, I've never seen TTY bolts in any of the other disc brakes I've ever worked on. So why would the Spyder need them?

Just my 2 cents, and I'm probably over-thinking it.
 
It turns out I was over-thinking this. The screw is a "Scotch Grip", meaning it has that yellow locking agent on it. This is why the screw is one-time-use. I doubt the screw is TTY.

I'm going to do what @BajaRon said: clean the threads on the old screw, and re-use it with some blue Loctite.
 
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