Re-tap Or Helicoil?

[CC12345678910]

the threads in 1 of the maggie mounts last night on my 1 MONTH old echo and now i'm scared if I re-tap the mount it'll do it again. 1 of my riding friends suggested helicoiling it cos it's stronger or sommet. I have NO idea what the hell this is. (Could someone please explain in words with 2 syllables or please.) anyway, where do u get the helicoil kit and should I do that anyway? thanks

Ciaran.

[basher]

Helicoiling is stronger and not hard to do. Try using search and look in wiki. A helicoil works where you drill the hole out slightly bigger and tap it you then screw in what looks like a spring bunched up together. And thats it done, the inside of the helicoil contains a the thread and is stronger as there steel. You must be doing something wrong if your stripping them after a month. Use grease never tighten one all the way up and the other be really loose and then tighten that up always get them both nipped up and then tighten them both at half or full turn at a time. You dont need to do them up amazingly tight really so just dont do them up to tight.

[Tomy P]

Definately heli-coil! Don't forget to use copper grease on the bolt. My local garage helicoiled my thread for a fiver.

[Tony Harrison]

Heli-coil. I've said this before, but when Yamaha first produced aluminium racing motorbike frames, they helicoiled all the principle threads in the factory to guarantee their strength.

As long as it's done properly, it's a worthwhile modification, let alone repair!!!

[CC12345678910]

You must be doing something wrong if your stripping them after a month. Use grease never tighten one all the way up and the other be really loose and then tighten that up always get them both nipped up and then tighten them both at half or full turn at a time. You dont need to do them up amazingly tight really so just dont do them up to tight.

I didn't do anything wrong (i think ). I gapped off a small wall, pulled the back brake and and landed on my my arse because the slave shot out of the clamp. went to set the brake up and the bolt tightened up as usual until i put pressure on it and it stripped. I then swore alot and pushed home in disgust. Please tell me where I went wrong.

BTW: where do i get the helicoil kit from?

[echo_rob]

you can get a helicoil kit off ebay for like around £30, but its a worthwhile investment, trust me!!

I tapped all me mounts out to m6 and they all stripped again, helicoiled and no there fantastic.

helicoils

[Captain Scarlet]

Yea I done that with my Echo frame, I literally cried, always assumed it was a bad thing to happen.

But like all the posts above me, Helicoiling is much stronger, the thread is made from steel as aposed to an alloy and is stronger because of it.

And because its a coil that is completely seperate to the frame, if you did manage to strip it again, you can just replace it.

I'd recommend getting a local engineer to do it, my mates uncle owns a bike tuning place around here and he did two holes for a fiver, much cheaper than buying a kit.

But if you buy a kit, just think that you could make yourself a few bob by helicoiling your mate's frames. =D

EDIT: You went wrong on tightening it, make sure you don't overtighten the clamp or it will strip the thread.

That goes for just about everything on a bike.

Edited February 6, 2008 by Fugley

[Alex Dark]

helicoiling makes so much sense....you might be able to get another kind of thread insert, but the helicoil seems like the most practical option available to you

[spaceman]

And because its a coil that is completely seperate to the frame, if you did manage to strip it again, you can just replace it.

I dropped by my local hardware shop and checked out the helicoil kit. I asked the guy if it could ever strip again (the helicoil I mean). He said it would just come out together with the bolt or something like that. But he mentioned that the aluminium thread which holds the helicoil might strip. Note that it's just a normal hardware shop, they don not know nything about bikes.

So is it really true? What are the chances of the alu thread (which holds the helicoil) stripping?

[psycholist]

If the initial small diameter thread was strong enough for most people (Which they seem to be - I've never seen a 4 bolt magura mount strip), a helicoil mounted in a bigger diameter thread that sits higher off the bolt cut into the same metal should be massively stronger - think about the area a bigger thread is acting on the the material it's screwed into. Unless the hole for the helicoiled thread ends up very near the edge of the part it's installed in it should be a lot stronger. Because steel is so much stronger than aluminium a steel bolt in a steel coil fitted to aluminium may well fail by having the steel parts pull out of the Al ones, but this is going to be way rarer than the already rare issue of threads stripping in the first place...

Edited May 28, 2008 by psycholist