Rear suspension linkage

[Truck]

I’ve replaced the rear spring on my 2009 xl1000 all good, apart from I had to undo the bolt on the suspension linkage to the swingarm to gain a few mm of clearance to get the shock out, after reinstalling the shock I checked the manual for the torque settings top shocker nut torque 59nm all good, bottom shock mount to linkage 44nm all good, linkage to swingarm 88nm Hmm.... seams a little excessive for a 12mm bolt but it says so online and the manual to torque it to that so I gave it a go and surprise surprise it stripped the thread clean out the nut, so ordered a new nut and bolt, the bolt was on backorder, waited 3 weeks and tried again and the nut feels like it is about to give in again. Anyone know if this is a typo in the manual ?
I did also notice in the manual there is a torque figure for “shock link bracket bolt (12mm) 64mn” (same size as what I’m trying to torque) there is also one for 14mm @72nm but I can’t figure out what these bolts are as the shock link bolts in the parts diagram are 10mm
Never knew it could be so hard to tighten a nut and bolt to the correct torque lol. Anyone else come across this or any ideas ?
Thanks in advance Truck.

[S Barker]

88,  59 & 44 is as per the OEM manual.

Are you sure that your torque wrench is reading correctly ?

[Truck]

88,  59 & 44 is as per the OEM manual.

Are you sure that your torque wrench is reading correctly ?

Yea the torque wrench is correct and was calibrated last month just before lockdown kicked in, I have now managed to torque it up I replaced the nut and bolt again then did it in 5nm stages  up to 75nm left it for a day then 80nm, another day to 84nm Then after 8 hours did the remaining 4nm to 88, all I can think is the nut and bolt wanted to stretch a little and settle before reaching the required torque

[John J]

I agree with your thinking that 88Nm seems too much pressure on a 12mm bolt which could fail at any time. There are different grade bolts but 88Nm is close to the maximum for the more common 12mm bolts. I'm old school and still think in foot pounds and 88Nm is about 65 foot pounds, about the same as car wheel nuts and not much different to motorcycle axle bolts which both use much larger nuts/bolts.

[Rafa]

I don't usually bother with a torque wrench. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I haven't got one. You tend to get an idea of how much to tighten things with the diameter of the nut/bolt. It's different when doing - say a cylinder head. Then I'd have to borrow one.