I agree with you there John, I've never used a torque wrench on my primary chain inspection cover screws, unfortunately the poor guy who owns the Sportster in the images below did use a torque wrench on his screws and he stripped the threads. Judging by the state of those threads he must have set his wrench to ft/lbs instead of inch/lbs.
He could tap them out to 5/16-18 and increase the size of the hole and countersink in the cover, but the sensible and most expensive option would be to buy another primary drive cover and to tighten the screws by hand, if the cover weeps after his next ride he can give the screws an extra pinch by hand.
I was just fighting the same issue, had about 5 new rubber gaskets that wouldn't hold for more than 1000 miles.
Finally got the updated thinner, metal one, coated in rubbery stuff. It seems to be holding better. However, it will also need the updated cover piece which is slightly thicker. I think it's 2010 or 2012+ have the updated part number.
I don't remember ever seeing a cardboard gasket, only metal or rubber.
Last edited by LordSargon; 07-30-2022 at 06:18 PM.
I agree with you there John, I've never used a torque wrench on my primary chain inspection cover screws, unfortunately the poor guy who owns the Sportster in the images below did use a torque wrench on his screws and he stripped the threads. Judging by the state of those threads he must have set his wrench to ft/lbs instead of inch/lbs.
He could tap them out to 5/16-18 and increase the size of the hole and countersink in the cover, but the sensible and most expensive option would be to buy another primary drive cover and to tighten the screws by hand, if the cover weeps after his next ride he can give the screws an extra pinch by hand.
I've bin sayin' it for years , a torque wrench is a weapon of destruction in the wrong hands .
07-30-2022, 07:38 AM
