Equipment Guide: What Size Torque Wrench For A Motorcycle?

• by E4TP Contributor
• November 11, 2021
• 6 min read

There are various tools needed to provide motorbike upkeep

When you are riding your bike at 60 miles or more per hour, some bolts or nuts are likely to loosen. It’s a common thing that can lead to many significant incidents. And for that, you have to carry and use safety tools like a torque wrench to tighten the loose stuff.

A torque wrench is a specialised tool for automotive repair that helps to tighten many types of fasteners of motorbikes. However, choosing the right size torque wrench for a motorcycle can be tedious as it comes in many sizes.

Using the right and perfect size torque wrench is vital to reduce the possibility of unavoidable accidents. If you’re not sure what would be the right size torque wrench for a motorcycle, follow this article for reliable guidance.

This is a tool all riders should have handy

What Is The Purpose Of A Torque Wrench?

A torque wrench is used to tighten a certain torque nut and bolt. It is one of the useful tools for the motorcycle industry, which helps to ensure reliable and quality hardening. Uses torque wrench support to ensure no distortion or breakage in various clamping parts.

Unlike other tools, the torque wrench tightens all bolts at the appropriate level of tension. Therefore, you can easily avoid any kind of extra tightening problem and damage to the nuts, screws, and parts. To learn more about this special tool, you can check out the torque wrench review for motorcycles.

Different Types Of Torque Wrench

Almost every nut and bolt on a motorcycle has a predefined figure for using a torque wrench. However, different types of bolts, nuts, and screws for motorbikes require different types of torque wrenches. Here we’ve included some of the different types of Torque Wrench in detail:

• Beam
• Deflecting Beam
• Split Beam
• Slip
• Click
• Digital
• Interchangeable Head
• Micrometer

What Size Torque Wrench for a Motorcycle?

Can you use a universal size torque wrench for your motorcycle? Well, we all know you cannot, and for that, you have to use different-sized torque wrenches. Discover what size torque wrench you’ll need to use to perform activities on your motorcycle from the below section.

• 1/4-inch
• 3/8-inch
• 1/2-inch
• 3/4 to 1-inch

Among the common four sizes, each of them is individually suitable for different sorts of jobs. We’ll talk about all four of them in detail. Have a look:

1/4-inch

The 1/4-inch torque wrench is one of the most common and frequently used torque wrenches that work on small nuts or bolts. This wrench is suitable to use on 50-250 inch-lbs (4-21 ft-lbs), and it’ll let you tighten the fasteners of your motorbike.

It is especially good for motorcycle’s tiny automotive fasteners, such as engine repairing and valve covers. A 1/4-inch torque wrench will also prevent stress, broken and poorly secured parts.

3/8-inch

After the 1/4-inch torque wrench, a 3/8-inch torque wrench is the most popular and handy tool for motorbikes. This torque wrench is basically used for engine-related work, especially tightening spark plugs.

This 3/8-inch torque wrench’s working range is 30 to 60 ft. lbs or 15-75 foot-pounds. Along with tightening spark plugs, it helps to tighten lug nuts as well.

1/2-inch

The 1/2-inch torque wrench is commonly used for tightening or loosening lug nuts. This torque wrench is also useful for installing and removing motorbike suspension. The 1/2-inch torque wrench can be suitable for 30-250 foot-pounds torque specification.

In short, while it’s about suspension and transmission, nothing can be a better option than using the 1/2-inch torque wrench. It is suitable for all larger-sized nuts and bolts.

3/4 to 1-inch

A 3/4 to 1-inch torque wrench is basically used for oversized vehicles, including large construction vehicles and semi-trucks. While it’s bike repairing related, 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch, and 1/2-inch torque wrenches are more than enough to perform all activities.

The 3/4 to 1-inch torque wrench has nothing to do with the motorcycle, but you can use it to tighten your wheels. You can mainly use this torque wrench to tighten your bike’s wheel bolts reliably.

This tool has multiple applications

How to Choose the Right Torque Wrench for Your Motorcycle?

You may know about different sizes of torque wrenches, but when buying them, you need to consider many aspects. Want to know what you should consider while getting one for your motorbike, follow the below steps. Here we go:

Available Torque Settings

While choosing a torque wrench, the first thing you have to determine is the available settings of torque. Torque wrenches are available in different ranges, including 1.1 ft. lbs. to 94 ft. lbs. However, the most common torque wrench is about 5-20 ft. lbs.

Accuracy

Accuracy is another essential thing you have to consider while choosing a torque wrench for your motorbike. The wrong choice of the wrench will lead to over or under-tightening issues. Try to choose a torque wrench with an accuracy range of ±3 to ±4 percent.

Drive Size

As we’ve described above, torque wrenches are available in different sizes, including ⅜ inch, ½ inch, ¼ inch, and 3/4 to 1-inch drives. You can choose the best type of torque wrench based on your motorbike repairing needs.

Scale Readability

Scale readability is one of the crucial aspects you need to look at while choosing one for your motorbike repairing activity. The scale will show you the current amount of pressure. So you can easily be able to get a comfortable reading while tightening any nuts and bolts.

Grip

The grip of a torque wrench is an essential aspect you need to give your attention to. Improper grips of any wrench will never give accurate tighten output, which can lead to many issues. Every torque wrench doesn’t come with a handle, so try to choose one with a handle to get comfortable workability.

Build

Torque wrenches can be made with many materials, and not all of them are strong and reliable. If you are choosing a torque wrench for your motorbike, try to choose one that is made with steel and doesn’t have any plastic pieces.

Equipment Guide: What Size Torque Wrench For A Motorcycle?

Every motorcycle rider needs to check and adjust every bolt, nut, and screw to avoid any kind of incident. Since most nuts, bolts, and screws can be tightened and adjusted with a torque wrench, it is essential to pick the right size wrench. That is because using the wrong torque wrench can lead to many unavoidable accidents.

In this post, we’ve briefly discussed types of torque wrench and different sizes of this wrench. So choose the right and proper size torque wrench for your bike and fix minor to severe issues of your motorbike by yourself.

E4TP Contributor

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