Rear Axel Nut TORQUE

[dubepj]

Found some info on that and it says 108.5 ft. lbs. Seems excessive to me. Is that dry or lubed threads. My bike is a 1984 SK with the 16 in. rear wheel.

 

[5twins]

Yes, it is quite high. I think I tried it once and had trouble getting it that tight, so I don't really bother checking it, I just make it tight. It's also rather silly to give a torque spec as a single value on a part that needs the nut aligned for a cotter key. Chances are that if torqued to spec, the cotter pin holes aren't going to line up. What is needed here is a torque spec given as a range, and after checking the torque charts in just about all the factory manuals, I found one. The torque spec chart for the '77D model is about the best I found because ALL the specs are given as ranges. I use it the most .....

Now that I discovered a range value for that axle, I have checked it with my torque wrench set at the minimum of the range (about 87 ft/lbs) and it meets that. I don't know exactly how tight I've got it but I know it's tight enough. I always lube the threads (anti-seize).

 

[dubepj]

Thanks a lot 5 twins

 

[5twins]

It's pretty hard to screw this up. When you have the axle nut aligned with the cotter pin holes and semi-tight, you know it's got to be tighter so you tighten it up to the next slot in the nut. That takes 1/3 of a turn on the nut and by then it's very tight, tight enough to meet (or exceed) the minimum torque in the spec range. Like I said, I never checked mine for years but when I finally did (after I found the torque spec range), I found I had been making it tight enough all along.