2007 GY-5 BOLTS (counterbalanced)

So, today I did my bolts. Below is a list of the ones I used.

2 - 5" 7/16 bolts for rear upper and lower back of motor

2 - 3 1/2" 3/8 bolts for front of motor

2 - 2" 3/8 bolts for bracket on front of motor

3 - 2 1/2" 3/8 bolts for behind top of motor (by carb)

All with lockwashers & nuts


i think that is the rundown on them. i bought those gold looking grade 8's from ace hardware.

i might have been able to get away with shorter ones up by the carb where engine mounts to frame.

hope this helps someone.

[SpeedSouth]

hope this helps someone.

It helps me! :)

Thanks Zap!

[TeamCheap]

I hope it works for you. :wink: I'm sure it will.

I prefer steel lock nuts myself, to each his own.

I like the bolts long enough to go almost all the way thru so the smooth shank part of the bolt is in all the holes as much as possible.
I have seen things get sloppy loose where the bolt threads get pounded by what ever it's fastening.

TC....dangit man...dont make me second guess myself here. I invested almost 14.00 in those bolts i'll have you know! 8O

why oh why don't the dealers take the 30 minutes and 13 dollars and make sure the engines have quality bolts?

When I snapped that one yesterday I knew I MUST replace them as it was waaayyyy too easy to snap. BUT those grade 8's will snap too if you're not careful.

By the way, the bolts I took out are soft as heck and have 8.8 stamped onto the top of them. Is that some sort of joke?

[TeamCheap]

Did you have to drill out any holes or were all the holes (frame/engine) sized the same and each given location.

The big great super fantastic American Lifan should be instructing their top notch super friendly dealers on how to make their products SAFE.

Those bolts are so very important that I'm sure we will be hearing of someone getting seriously hurt or worse killed from a bolt failure.(hope I'm wrong)

The rattles and vibrations from the loose bolts are nothing compared to the dangers of an engine bolt snapping leading to a loose chain that can get piled into the engine case causing the rear wheel to lock sending someone skidding down the road into who knows what.

[TeamCheap]

Metric standard bolts

A standard bolt has a hex head and a smooth shoulder area beyond the standard amount of threading. Shorter lengths are not available with partial threading.
Steel grade 8.8
Made from medium carbon steel and zinc plated. Best for general hardware use where high strength is not required. Standard metric thread pitches.
Steel grade 8.8 fine thread
Made from medium carbon steel and zinc plated. Best for general hardware use where high strength is not required. Fine and super fine metric thread pitches.
Steel grade 10.9
Made from alloy steel quenched, tempered, and zinc plated. Best for automotive use and other areas where high strength is needed.

I just cut and pasted this but you got wonder why these bolts break so easy.

okay so a class 8.8 metric (which was oem on these bikes) is roughly equivalent to an sae grade 5.

now I understand.

edit:
SAE Grade 5 = Metric Class 8.8
SAE Grade 8 = Metric Class 10.9

[TeamCheap]

Yep I didnt know for sure either thats why I took a look and decided to post that.

[usmc-mustang]

I hope it works for you. :wink: I'm sure it will.

I prefer steel lock nuts myself, to each his own.

I like the bolts long enough to go almost all the way thru so the smooth shank part of the bolt is in all the holes as much as possible.
I have seen things get sloppy loose where the bolt threads get pounded by what ever it's fastening.

The nuts are called "stovers". Stay away from the nylon locking, as the plastic has a habit of melting with the heat of an air cooled motor. Something I learned a long time ago on my RM400.

Isn't sad.. We pull out our Chinese made metric bolts, and insert Chinese made SAE or USS bolts?? Irony.. Bites you everytime.

[katoranger]

I believe he use the plain steel nuts and lockwashers. After the tip from TC I used long enough bolts so that the shank was supporting the weight on the engine to the frame and then used a washer or two for spacers.

I did this mod in August and have not had any more problems. It did require a bit of drilling.

Allen

[PorterzCustomz]

The rattles and vibrations from the loose bolts are nothing compared to the dangers of an engine bolt snapping leading to a loose chain that can get piled into the engine case causing the rear wheel to lock sending someone skidding down the road into who knows what.

Absolutely, thats what I always worry about if im on the highway at 70mph and the engine seizes up or the rear tire locks im dead no questions asked. The cars behind me like to ride my ass a few feet away especially when im not going fast enough for them. If the tire locks your all done.. teamcheap or porterzcustomz would all of the sudden stop posting and replying and no one would really know where they went.. scary 8O

[SpeedSouth]

Not to downplay the seriousness of a motor lock at highway speeds, but it's not instant death. :D

I was running 2 up on my EL 250 at about 110 (at night in the fast lane) when my cam chain decided to suffer seperation anxiety. The pucker factor was quite high, but I managed to keep it rolling somehow and cross 4 lanes of traffic to get safely onto the shoulder.

Obviously it could have been worse if the rear had remained locked, but it didn't. I got lucky, again.

I curerently have no desire to get on the highway on a bike. Give me a curvy country road and I'm content. A lock would still be dangerous, but there's much less threat of being run over as a result.

[TeamCheap]

I only post this much to pump up my post count.......ppppffffttt HAAhahaha :lol: :lol: yeah right I dont think so.(couldnt care less about post counts :roll:)

Really I post as much I do because the weather is just lousy but this week is looking good

i knew it!!!!! TC I knew it!!!! nah lol

I am addicted to this website.

actually I was just thinking about this. the engine is secured on my bike with 2 big bolts in the rear 3 smaller in the top and I think 4 in the front. i doubt that any single bolt snapping would cause catastrophic failure. even if one of the big ones in the rear snapped, there would still be the other big one and another 7 bolts holding the motor/frame together. it is not as if these engines are heavy weights.

if I am wrong about this, please tell me...but I am not sure I want to know.

[TeamCheap]

To me a catastrophic failure could just be a thrown chain locking the rear tire or on the long shot of the frame folding.

There are really only five (5) bolts holding the engine and another four (4) that increase the possible number of bolts that can loosen up or break and allow engine movement.

How much does the engine have to move before the chain gets broken/thrown off?
How many engine bolts have to break or fall out for the frame to start to collapse?

Last year my wife and I were getting ready for a ride and I noticed her chain was very loose and I got a bit mad at her for not noticing it.

When I went to adjust it I then realized why it was so loose the lower rear engine mount bolt was gone.
(I had to stress to her how important it is to look the bike over)

She doesnt ride her bike hard in any way and that bolt was gone.

That one bolt plus the stupid long 9" bolt (upper rear bolt) allowed a lot of engine movement so her bike was down until I did the bolt replacement.
Funny thing was I didnt adjust her chain I just went and replaced the bolts and wouldnt ya know it the chain wasnt sloppy loose anymore.

If these bikes had a complete frame I dont think the engine bolts would be as much of a problem but with the engine completeing the frame it appears these engine bolts are critical.

I am going to apply a thin layer of gbweld over everything. :lol:

[tcs]

A couple of decades ago, five of the seven bolts holding the accessory drive bracket (alternator, power steering pump, air conditioner compressor) to the engine of my Chrysler mini-van broke. Then three of the four bolts that held the steering rack to the frame broke.

tcs

tcs...it was a Chrysler mini-van...that explains it. :wink:

well...i can pretty much guarantee that the bolts i put in this thing wont be going anywhere, in fact...i suspect the motor will snap before these bolts do..hehe I don't go offroad either..so that is in my favor. i just wish the vibrations were gone.

[rev_arb]

So, today I did my bolts. Below is a list of the ones I used.

2 - 5" 7/16 bolts for rear upper and lower back of motor

2 - 3 1/2" 3/8 bolts for front of motor

2 - 2" 3/8 bolts for bracket on front of motor

3 - 2 1/2" 3/8 bolts for behind top of motor (by carb)

All with lockwashers & nuts


i think that is the rundown on them. i bought those gold looking grade 8's from ace hardware.

i might have been able to get away with shorter ones up by the carb where engine mounts to frame.

hope this helps someone.



Stupid question....is this a MUST fix?

well, i did it in hopes that my vibration issues would be resolved. BUT if you get into doing it and see how soft the stock bolts are you'll probably want to replace them. I intend to replace every freakin bolt I can on this thing gradually with better quality from ace..right about then it will prolly give up the ghost on me but heck engines are cheap.

[Mountainwolf]

rev_arb,

This is really cheap insurance for some piece of mind. I had read all through this board before I ever even uncrated my first bike and read about the bolts shearing. I thought that can't be right. First bolt I took out was a motor mount bolt from the neck of the bike, stamped 8.8, (metric equivalent of a grade 5 bolt) put it in the vise and hit it with a 11oz claw hammer, it broke. Holy crap Batman, all these bolts gotta go!! Every damned bolt, nut, washer, lock washer, and screw that I thought was gonna be a problem has been replaced with better hardware from either Ace Hardware, Lowes or in the case of the 2 axle bolts a local specialty shop called Rock Necks. For $35 and 2 hours of my time (including running around town looking for stuff) I now have a bike that will hold my fat a$$ (285 lbs) without worry of a bolt snapping or shearing. Just my 3 cents.

Wolf

[TeamCheap]

So you replaced the axle bolts and the swingarm bolt as well as the triple tree bolts?

What about the rear shock bolts?