'06 (B)Uelly

[c3powil]

25-27 ft-lbs for the 2010 model year. Mine is a 2006, but I doubt they're that different.

[c3powil]

PXL_20221214_124315617.jpg

Couldn't get a very good pic. Not sure if that shiny bit is helicoil, or from the bolt bending.

[njloco]

You could use a good epoxy, I know some that will give up to 60 ft. #.

[c3powil]

Okay, so I removed the muffler again and took off the kickstand.

I found that one of the bolts had come out, but the helicoil had not. The other bolt had bent so much that I couldn't tell if the helicoil dropped or just bent with the bolt and was exposed because of that. Removing one of the bolts yielded a broken bolt. Maybe that's what caused the issue?

PXL_20221217_192203260.jpg

I cleaned out the threads and pulled out all of the helicoil. I tried installing new helicoils and they seemed to screw in just fine without dropping out. I think my main issue was not applying any Loctite. The instructions on the kit said to screw in the helicoil only 1/2 turn below the surface, which felt a little dubious since the bolts are 1.25 inches and the helicoil is only about .25 inch. I screwed them in a little further this time. I was able to torque the rear bolt down to the proper lbft, but the front bolt gets to about 15 lbft and just spins without ever tightening further. The bolt definitely isn't broken this time. I suspect there is an issue with the helicoil I installed after all. However, I tried to retrieve the bolt with vice grips, and it just would not come out. I'm not sure what's happening with it, but at this point the kickstand is back on, at least one of the bolts is tightened to spec, and I'm going to ride until I notice the kickstand is loose. If either of the bolts come loose in the future, then it is time for epoxy. I could drain all the fluids and turn the bike over to do a better helicoil job, but we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

Thanks for all of your help with my bike this far, guys.