news

Tech Talk

posted Sep 15, 2008 to Featured Articles by FLmx

Tech Talk

There are a few things that technicians like more then having their rider finish a long year with no mechanical failures, diagnosing a tough technical issue or having something go together easer that you thought. Last week at a Supermoto race I had a tech inspector comment on the good job that I did on the safety wire. I thought boy, this is awesome. This guy sees more safety wire jobs then anyone. That was the inspiration for this article. In Motocross safety wire is used most often on grips and little things but in Supermoto and Road racing you have to safety wire everything. Anything that holds oil or coolant needs it to be safely secured. Fork, axels, brake bolts and a few other fasteners need to be wired as well as well. The options of what can be safety wired are limitless.

During that race I took some time to walk the pits and see how other people were installing it. What I found is that it is an art. It does take some skill and creativeness to make it both functional and look good.

The tools that you need to install safety wire are quite basic. You’ll need a drill (cordless or a drill press), a whole army of quality 1/16 drill bits, safety wire pliers and some .032” diameter safety wire. You may ask why do I need a “Whole Army” of 1/16” drill bits. The reason for this is that they go dull and break. It is a challenge to drill a hole threw a head of an 8mm bolt.

The first step in safety wiring is drilling your holes. This will seem like the most tedious and challenging task of the whole project. There are a few tips that will make this a little easer. Make sure that the head of your bolt is secured in a vice or even better a drill press. Keep the speed of the drill slow. Don’t think that if the drill spins faster your hole will appear faster. If you over spin the drill you will dull the bit and possibly break it. So take your time and use light pressure. A little lube also helps.

Once you have all of the holes drilled it is time to run the safety wire. Measure it out before you cut it to cut down on waist. You want to make sure that you have enough wire to complete the job. Now that you have the wire measured you can now install the safety wire tool clamp it down lock it and pull the handle. The tool will do all of the work. The key to this is not pull to hard or you’ll break the wire and have to start over.

After you are done make sure that you bend the excess wire over and trim it so that it doesn’t catch anything.

The possibilities are endless with safety wire. It isn’t just limited to securing bolts. I have used it to secure brake lines, fuel vents and anything else that needs to be secure. If you have a question or comments feel free to e-mail me at Chrisreo@bellsouth.net and together we will keep Florida riders on top.