Well today I blew $165 for 2.5 laps around a race track. Freaking awesome! Front caliper fell off on a straight away. Front brake went limp, nearly hit the guy in front of me, pitted and noticed my caliper was dangling by the brake line and I'm missing a brake pad. F'ing great. First sessions of the day. Drove 20 miles down and picked up new pads but couldn't find a bolt to remount them. Gave up around 1pm and drove 2 hours home. 

Lesson Learned: AWLAYS Loc-tite your bolts.

I just remounted my front caliper two days ago and didn't use thread lock compound. 

Thats a BUST.. 

Safety wire for the track 

this is why you safety wire things like that.

the track near me states you HAVE to be safety wired to even get on the track.  how did you get around it? looks like we know what you will be doin next 

Safety wire anything that can cause you to crash or prohibit completing a race/track day.
Locktite is not useful since you cannot visually see that it is secure.

+1 billion for saftey wire

Yeow!  Still picking seat foam out of your puckered butt, I bet?   

Quote from: dgyver on December 02, 2007, 07:35:59 PM
Safety wire anything that can cause you to crash or prohibit completing a race/track day.
Locktite is not useful since you cannot visually see that it is secure.

Agree completely.  ^^^

yup, safety wire is better than locktite anyday. or at least use the two together

My bike has saftey wire all over from when it used to be on the track hehe.

My track bikes have locking hitch pins that are safety wired together. Passes tech and makes removing the calipers much easier, especially when changing front tires often.

How do you safety wire bolts? Also does anyone know what bolts the calipers take?

They have these tiny ass drills that you drill the bolt heads with. Trust me it is MFing hard.
Then they use piano wire and these funky wire tying pliers.
Cool.
Srinath.

It is not hard. You will break some bits but go slow with oil to keep it cool. I have found the standard black drill bits last the longest.

Drill a 1/16" hole and use SS safety wire (.030 wire is fairly common). Safety wire pliers make the job easier and look better with even twists. Stuff is cheap on ebay. These are the same pliers at Harbor Freight and what you will see in most any m/c shop.

Here is a helpful link on safety wiring: http://edbargyracingschool.com/photos.htm

Quote from: tussey on December 02, 2007, 05:06:01 PMnoticed my caliper was dangling by the brake line[...]

Lesson Learned: AWLAYS Loc-tite your bolts.

I just remounted my front caliper two days ago and didn't use thread lock compound. 

I had a similar problem when I replaced my front rotor (I forgot to torque down the caliper bolts ).  Luckily, when one of my bolts fell out I was only doing about 25mph on a neighborhood street (during my seat-the-new-rotor test ride).  I heard it "ping" when it hit the street, so I was able to stop and walk back to it.

I've never had my bike on the track, but neither have I ever used Loc-tite on my caliper mounting bolts.  However, I DO use a torque wrench to torque them down to the setting listed in the manual ... which is one of the highest torque settings you will find for the whole bike.

THE highest torque setting I've ever come up against was the first time I removed the front caliper from my '96.  The mounting bolts WERE Loc-tited, and I thought I was going to break the bolts before they finally POPped loose. 

PS - If you're going to the track, definitely do the safety wire thing.  All I'm saying is that for street riding: Loc-tite if you wish, but you should be OK with correctly-torqued bolts.

Hey there,
A great place to get a reasonably priced set of safety wire pliers (the special kind that spin automatically to twist the wire) is Harbor Freight Tools. Cheap and they come with wire. I think they also sell a special vice-like tool that holds nuts and bolts for drilling.
A torque wrench is a must, too.
Good luck,
Todd

Quote from: Trwhouse on December 03, 2007, 12:40:29 PM
Hey there,
A great place to get a reasonably priced set of safety wire pliers (the special kind that spin automatically to twist the wire) is Harbor Freight Tools. Cheap and they come with wire. I think they also sell a special vice-like tool that holds nuts and bolts for drilling.
A torque wrench is a must, too.
Good luck,
Todd

You don't technically need the pliers.  They're a tool you grow out of.  Someday it will be easier to twist the wires without them - so I suggest you poll your friends, find the one who doesn't use theirs anymore, and borrow them.  Until you don't need them anymore, then pass them on.

Random amusing ancedote:  I was safety-wiring an oil filter on an airplane years ago.  I had one hand on the (grounded) engine mounts, the safety wire in the other hand, wrapped around my hand a few times to keep tension on it.  Then the end of the wire brushed against the hot terminal of the battery. At the time, I was not Amused.

I am surprised they let you out on the track, officials and scrutineers demand parts are wired to protect the other track users as much as yourself. Its a very close call between having your pad drop out at 100mph and hitting someone elses at 100mph 

Quote from: TinaMarieF on December 03, 2007, 05:12:30 PM

You don't technically need the pliers.  They're a tool you grow out of.  Someday it will be easier to twist the wires without them - so I suggest you poll your friends, find the one who doesn't use theirs anymore, and borrow them.  Until you don't need them anymore, then pass them on.
...

Safety wire pliers are well worth the small cost, easily found for arond $10-15. Much faster and easier to twist with them. Once you have a pair, you will always use them.

Tussey,

For a tutorial on safetying, the best I know of is found in FAA AC43.13-1B  "Acceptable Methods, Techniques, and Practices - Aircraft Inspection and Repair"  This is the main "Bible" we airplane mechanics look to when we have questions.  The section on safety wire starts on page 7-19.  (That's Chapter 7, page 19)

The entire manual can be downloaded in PDF format free from this link:

http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/0/E533BB05389C90E486256A54006E47B2?OpenDocument

For reference, here's the front caliper on my bike:



Drilling small holes can be trying with hand tools if you don't have the feel.  If you want, PM me and I'll send you my address. 

Drop your front and rear caliper bolts, oil drain plug, and dipstick in the mail and I'll drill them on my Edlund high speed drill.  I'll also throw in a drilled bolt for the shift lever.  (If you haven't lost your shifter yet, give it time.)  I'll dig up some .032 wire from the supply cabinet too.

If not, is there any interest from fellow twinners in a Kerry-style guide on safety wiring?