Exhaust nuts

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B+Bogus

B+Bogus

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I'll be needing a pair of threaded exhaust nuts for my 850, and I noticed Andy Molnar http://www.manx.co.uk/pdf/MPL-Norton-Triton.pdf markets some dural numbers.
Anyone have any experience with these or similar ones?
The guy who repaired the threads on my exhaust ports used to do them for the Lancashire Constabulary bikes, and he used to fit bronze nuts (made to his spec). He told me that once they were done up hand-tight they never worked loose - he was genuinely suprised when I told him of the tabwashers as shown in the parts book.
I can only assume that the expansion rates of the head and the nut were complimentary?
Incidentally, my Ducatis use a similar arrangement....with brass nuts.

What other options are there? I've got a head with new threads and I'm keen to keep them in good order.
 
Aluminum nuts are a no-no. They can bind in the head and being soft may be a bear to take out. Years ago, one guy came in to my friend's shop with rattling pipes, the alloy nuts had backed out a bit and jammed in place, trying to remove them, we could only bend them out of shape and the only way we got them off was to heat the head with a torch and then put ice cubes on the nuts.

Brass nuts seem the way to go, they are supposed to have the same expansion rate as aluminum so they will nut (haha) loosen up.

Jean
 
Brass nuts available from Norvil.....better than ally as Jean says.....I still have standard steel ones....they say you get the head really hot then tighten really tight, but mine have still loostened off once already!
Stu
 
Hi:
I have recommended the norvil ones for a couple of years now.The bronze ones stay tight.I repair the stripped ports and have found the aftermarket ones vary in size in the way they are made.The norvil ones at least are machined the same. www.tritonmachining.ca
Bruce
 
Thanks for the advice guys ;)
Norvil it is!

Does anyone use the tabwashers?
 
I have Norvil bronze nuts on mine, but I put tabwashers on as well as a failsafe.

There's nothing more anoying :evil: than when the locknuts come loose and you have to keep leaning down and tightening them as you go along to stop them chattering and wearing the threads away. It will always happen when your miles from home, and I don't carry an 18" exhaust lockring tightener with me.
 
B+Bogus said:
Does anyone use the tabwashers?
Click to expand...

Yes, I use them. I bend the tags so they have a slight grip on both the head and nut fins, then they do not rattle, and they seem to work well enough.
 
Jeandr said:
Aluminum nuts are a no-no. They can bind in the head and being soft may be a bear to take out. Years ago, one guy came in to my friend's shop with rattling pipes, the alloy nuts had backed out a bit and jammed in place, trying to remove them, we could only bend them out of shape and the only way we got them off was to heat the head with a torch and then put ice cubes on the nuts.

Brass nuts seem the way to go, they are supposed to have the same expansion rate as aluminum so they will nut (haha) loosen up.

Jean
Click to expand...

I can confirm this from personal experience, aluminium nuts are a complete no go. The threads bind and in my case the whole finned end snapped off trying to get one of them out, leaving the exhaust loose with nothing to grip on to get it out.
I use standard 750 style steel ones these with no problems, just haul them up as hard as you can while the engine's hot and they don't loosen off.
 
L.A.B. said:
B+Bogus said:
Does anyone use the tabwashers?
Click to expand...

Yes, I use them. I bend the tags so they have a slight grip on both the head and nut fins, then they do not rattle, and they seem to work well enough.
Click to expand...

You would recommend the washers over safety wire (assume the head and nut were already drilled)?
 
swooshdave said:
You would recommend the washers over safety wire (assume the head and nut were already drilled)?
Click to expand...

No...not really, as I know many owners would rather use lockwire. The tabwashers have never let me down, so I've always preferred to use them, always making sure they are set so they can't rattle about.
 
than when the locknuts come loose and you have to keep leaning down and tightening them as you go along
-----------------------------------------------
It don't do the gloves much good either!
 
Got brass on a 850 Interstate and they are fine, no probs and look nice. Got original iron chrome ones on the 850 Roadster and they are tabbed. Done right they don't come loose. But they get rusty and don't look as nice as the brass.

Mick
 
Reggie said:
I have Norvil bronze nuts on mine, but I put tabwashers on as well as a failsafe.

There's nothing more anoying :evil: than when the locknuts come loose and you have to keep leaning down and tightening them as you go along to stop them chattering and wearing the threads away. It will always happen when your miles from home, and I don't carry an 18" exhaust lockring tightener with me.
Click to expand...

I've taken to carrying a wrench with me now. I modified it to be 2 pieces that slip together, each piece is short enough to fit in my tool bag and when combined they give the leverage needed.
 
I haven't had a problem with exhaust nuts since about 1967. I learned to cinch them up while hot then and use safety wire. on my commandos I used the later steel nuts and safety wired them after a hot tightening. I would have been tempted to do as LAB does and use the locks but I had safety wire already.
 
I use a 750 (no crossover) system and nuts (deeper/more threads) on my 850, torque to 70 lbs-ft, then retorque after the first few rides. Check 'em once in a while thereafter but they've never loosened. FWIW/YMMV.
 
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