torque, electrics, and other problems

Hello, from SW France. Had our 2010 CSW serviced in Brighton last week and drove back to France yesterday. On the way, the handbrake light came on, for no good reason. It now comes on when the hand brake is down, and goes off when the hand brake is up! In the early hours of this morning, with a couple of miles to go, the headlights decided to switch themselves off, I could only keep them on by applying constant pressure to the lever ... Both, I would guess, are independent short circuits? A coincidence though that both should occur on the same day?

I had a drop bar and Ball'n'pin delivered from paddocks while in Brighton. To assemble, I'm instructed to apply various torques 56, 92, 240, 244Nm. I don't have a torque wrench and my local outlet only sell them up to 210Nm. I'm thinking to just tighten bolts as much as I can without overly straining myself - as a rule of thumb is this acceptable? Unfortunately, neither drop bar nor Ball'n'pin came with bolts to attach the two things together - what!? Instructions say to use Grade 8.8 M16 bolts and grade 8 nuts, now, I don't really know what that means, the bolts in my local outlet look pretty generic and don't have 'specs' on them - does everyone use the recommended?

In other news, I crashed our defender on a French motorway a week ago. My fault, I went to overtake and there was someone there ... Nobody injured thankfully. Defender drove off with a tiny mark on bumper, small scrape on wheel trim, and a small scrap on one door hinge. The Renault Cleo did not fair so well ...

In terms of bolt grades the head should have 8.8 stamped or cast into it. If it does not then it is not rated. See pic below (just pulled off google). As long as it has this or higher then it will be a suitable high tensile bolt for your application.



When I have attached towbars in the past I have used a 3 foot breaker bar and tightened it as much as I could. You could tighten it to the 210 the torque wrench will go up to and then tighten "a bit" further. But i hvae never had a problem with mine.

Thanks dag019, maybe I'll get this torque wrench and go a bit further as you say, sounds like I need to go tighter than I could with my cheap and feeble wrench ... Now that you've mentioned it, I notice the 8.8 stamped onto the bolts that came with the drop bar - wish they'd included a couple more for the ball'n'pin!

The bolt standards are international so any local fasterner supplier will know what 8.8 is. Don't skimp as the price is almost the same but the strenght is much higher. For high torques just weigh yourslelf, work out the right length handle (tube) mark it and step on it slowly. You can use a fish wiegher on a breaker bar or pole too. Its imporant on high torques because they are often higher than you think, you may think "i'll do it really tight" but that could be 120lb ft when it should be 200.

Noted, thanks, I'll get myself a torque wrench.

just tighten the bolts tight is tight and all thats needed

Unless you're built like a gorilla , 200nm is a good pull on a breaker bar. Use something longer than a standard socket wrench and you'll be fine.

I've installed the drop plate and ball, it did not go well. I bought a torque wrench, but the drop plate bolts are so awkward to get at ... When I did use the torque wrench I bend/distorted the washers. Also, nuts just turned with the bolts and its so difficult to get a hold of the on these drop plates ... I don't think I'm cut out for this kinda thing! Narked ...