Help before I do something stupid

Thanks for the good advice guys. About to dive in and will let you know how it goes...

I chickened out and took the fork to the local non-Honda MC shop, where the tech kindly agreed to remove the bolt and didn't want to charge me (I slipped him $20 in thanks).

I then tried to source a new bolt from Honda. Backordered and not available in Canada until September. A very few were available in stock with dealers in the US, but getting one of them wasn't practical. I was able to source a similar automotive bolt, but because it needs to fit in a recess and not impinge on the the front axle sliding past, I had to grind the head down to take off about 3mm. Leaving less depth for the hex driver to bite on re-installation. I was pretty careful when torquing up that bolt, I can tell you. But its done and all seems well.

Thanks again for the advice guys.

I've taken those bolts out a few times and never paid much attention to the height of the hex head part so now I'm curious, what size is the bolt, and what's the difference in head measurement between the std. bolt and the Honda version?

dwalby said:

I've taken those bolts out a few times and never paid much attention to the height of the hex head part so now I'm curious, what size is the bolt, and what's the difference in head measurement between the std. bolt and the Honda version?

Click to expand...

It looks like the Honda bolt has a 6mm head, and the automotive bolt I sourced had an 8mm head, so I guess I ground it down by about 2mm.