Brake line washers: safe to reuse?

[ceo012384]

Should you? Yes. It's a good safe measure.

Have I skipped on it and other similar things at the track to get out for a race or repair from a crash on a tight schedule? Yes.

Originally Posted by Gas Man

here here on not always using a torque wrench. I have 2 in the garage but on things like spark plugs, drain plugs, oil filters, etc... I do not use one. I know what the feel is.

EVerything important on my bikes is safety wired (race requirement)... But I'd actually recommend it to folks even for street bikes.... simple things like oil drains and fills, coolant drains and fills, brake caliper bolts, axle pinch bolts, etc... Then you'll always be sure.

But yes it depends how much of a rush I'm in... I'm confident enough in my arm-torque-meter after doing a bunch of maintenance to know that if I am on a schedule, and do it as well as I can feel, it will be just fine. But if I'm just casually doing bike work without a set schedule or deadline, I will use the wrench for safety's sake.

[Kerry_129]

Copper or aluminum washers don't work-harden thru the relatively low pressure like they see in that application. Banging on them with a hammer, sure - squeezing them w/ a few hundred psi, no. They do 'gall' and develop small ridges/imperfections in the surface though. That's the reason for using a soft ductile metals, since they deform to match the adjacent surface irregularities and form a pressure-tight seal. That is where a problem can arise from reusing if the surface is already deformed to the point that it doesn't adequately 'crush' again and fails to seal.

I agree that they're so cheap that it's easiest/best to just use new ones. But in a situation where I don't have new ones handy, I simply rub both sides on a piece of fine sandpaper (press w/ a fingertip & make figure-8s) and presto! - nice fresh sealing surfaces which I'd trust every bit as much as a brand-new washer.

As far as torque-wrench use goes, I think lots of guys get carried away with the notion that it's the only way to achieve 'proper torque' and that not using one is just 'wrong' (hate to stereotype, but the BMW crowd seems to have lots of these overly-anal-but-don't-really-know-WTF-they're-talking-about types - not talking about you, JoshuaTree, but a 'spect you know what I mean ). With gorilla-armed wrench-turners though, using one is a good idea - it would be more appropriate to call it an 'anti-overtorque' wrench in many cases.



In many/most applications, I trust my feel/turn-of-nut method at least as much if not more than a torque wrench.

[Trip]

As far as torque-wrench use goes, I think lots of guys get carried away with the notion that it's the only way to achieve 'proper torque' (hate to stereotype, but the BMW crowd seems to have lots of these overly-anal-but-don't-really-know-WTF-they're-talking-about types - not talking about you, JoshuaTree, but a 'spect you know what I mean).

Hey I resemble that remark now.....

That's why you need nuclear qualified torque wrenchs that get tested and recalibrated yearly.

[Kerry_129]

Hey - I think you knew what you were getting yourself into when you bought it!

'Grats on the new Panzer, BTW...