so my chain is soon to be in need of an adjustment and i cant for the life of me loosen the axle nut...the torque specified in the manual is 108ft lbs/ 150nm... (which is bloomin rediculous!) ive given it some beans making use of a cheater bar but it simply wont budge. im thinking it may be siezed or bathed in loctite or something as when ive put a lot of force on it, its moved but its turning the axle itself and biting into the chain adjuster on the opposite side rather than loosening the bolt. (i have checked there is no cotter pin etc). i dont wanna just keep bouncing on it incase it rips into the chain adjuster more and starts to spin freely. any ideas of how i can get the thing off before i take it back to the shop and ask them to do it?. play in the chain is still fine but it'll probably be leaving the recommended settings of 4-5cm of play soon (also rediculous! lol) so id rather keep on top of it. cheers !
Spray WD-40 on it, leave it for a few hours, then spray some more, keep going until it starts to work loose - it works for most stuff. Another little trick is to give it a quick jab in the tightening direction and hit it (lightly) with a rubber hammer directly at the head, that can un-seize the threads. Oh and get the biggest breaker bar you can find!
I had this with my old SV. The previous owner had taken it to a garage and they had changed the tyre and tightened the axle nut with an air gun. Using a breaker bar I was lifting the bike off the floor, even rocking it in the air wouldn't budge it. I asked a friend to sit on the bike, I lifted it into the air again, then suddenly it slammed down. (Fat friend) The chain adjuster bent at the bottom and span round and scored a line into my swingarm. I bent the chain adjuster back into shape using a bench vice, and had no problems since! There is no need to tighten anything with an air-gun on a bike.
Try tightening up the bolt just a tiny bit, just enough to break the seal that has created between the bolt threads and the spindle threads. The seal is used to the direction of force you are applying to it, so reverse the direction of force and the seal will crumble like France in WW2.
The spindle has a short bolt head resting against the chain adjuster block. Rather than the edge of the bolt keeping pressure and staying flat against it, its biting into the block. Too short to yet a wrench on it, and recessed so doesnt have room even if it could fit.
Its too tight to go any tighter haha. Ive tried that and just about managed to snug it back up to how it was so it was flat against the adjuster again but id need a mile long breaker bar to tighten any further as your cat has bigger limbs than I do and im prone to stripping threads and bolts so im trying to be cautious
I'm down the drive in litherland if you want to come round, I'll take a look and use my tools of awesomeness to save the day.
may take you up on that buddy. there's a kebab or something in it for you if you wish. when are you free?
Well as I thought, its glued on with unicorn piss or something else magical as it definitely aint budging! Gonna take it back to the shop next friday and ask / tell them to fix it for me with the air wrench or whatever they used to put it on. Thanks to cansa for the cuppa/attempt to fix
If it's that tight it needs a short sharp shock. Which is where a airgun would help. Use a short bar on the socket or spanner take up the slack, then a sharp tap with a large hammer (2lb club). The shock shifts the nut without turning the shaft. I must add make sure you take up any slack and always hit downward.
cansa tried the hammer method and id tried it also beforehand but to no avail so air-gun it is. i dont get why it has such a high torque spec in the first place... its 46bhp for god sake haha
Something that worked on Steuo's front Sprocket nut. We had a very long brraker bar and extension. Then we heated the socket up away from the bike to a good temperature, then place the hot socket on the nut, apply load and wait. The heat from the socket transfers to the nut before the spindle causing the nut to expand and ease its' grip. Took about a minutes wait on max load on Steuo's sprocket and pheck me, did it go with a crack, and I ended up in a heap on the floor. It was a real heart in mouth moment looking to see what had given, praying the gearbox output shaft was intact. Can help you give it a go one night next week if you want.
In the meantime, be sure to keep topping up spraying wd40 or similar regular to help with the final push
