How important is it to Torque Bolts?

This may sound like a silly question but I am having a chat with a mate at work.

I want to rebuild my front calipers in the coming weeks and I was looking at buying a torque wrench to make sure I torque them up correctly when putting it back together. The only thing is I dont have a torque wrench and they start at about £50 (halfords Pro).

He said not to worry and just tighten them up using a ratchet.

What do you guys think? Do you torque your brake bolts?

I dont have a tw, but then again things have a habbit of falling off my bike...

I'd have one if I could be bothered to get one but I think it comes down to common sense. If something feels loose, tighten it more.

£50 is steep though, get to a market you'll pick one up for £20

Thanks for the response.

Not sure I wold trust a £20 one though?? And it probably wouldnt be accurate after a few use as well.

I am tempted to do it up so its 'tight'

[Scoobs]

I think I have a good feel for when a bolt is done up tightly enough and I would (and have done) be happy enough to tighten caliper bolts without the aid of a torque wrench. I wouldn't, however, trust myself to tighten the bolts holding the cylinder heads on - not because I couldn't do them up tight enough, but I couldn't guarantee they would all be torqued to the same degree.

dont forget certain things get really really hot and so expand. Oil Filter, Sump Plug etc. Dont over tighten those just grip tight should do. Same with spark plugs, apparently its quite important to tighten the front sprocket nut, and use the locking washer if you change the sprockets over.
What kind of idiot would rush that job?

[Scoobs]

Sump plugs and spark plugs have compression washers so grip tight ain't tight enough in my opinion. The front sprocket nut has to be tightened to precisely "fookarn tight" as well. You can really lean on this bastid with a breaker bar.

Really? I was going to do an Oil change as well and I have always just tightened them to tight on cars and never had an issue!

[Scoobs]

Grip tight plus a bit more. Don't go trying to get another 2 turns on it. 1/4 should do it. Each to their own though. I take no responsibility for fooked sumps.

Yeah that is what I normally do on my car.

Never done it on a bike before! (oh-err!)

[keith_d]

Many years ago I tightened the cam belt pulley bolt on my car by hand. It didn't feel right but I ignored my instinct and ran the engine. No problems, and everything worked fine for a few weeks until the pulley dropped off and all the valves got bent.

Turned out I'd stripped the threads inside the camshaft. I suspect that if I'd use a torque wrench I would have noticed that the pulley wasn't seated properly instead of just tightening it until it looked right.

So, these days I regard a torque wrench as a good investment. It's a whole lot cheaper than a replacement camshaft and five valves.

Keith.