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Axle nut removal

7K views 35 replies 16 participants last post by  MileHighScottie 
#1 ·
hi all, the rear axle/spindle.wheel bearings have gone on my Sprint, I've just tried to get it apart but cannot get the big nut on the LHS of the bike undone, I've used a long bar but it's not shifting... any tips??
Thanks
 
#2 ·
Hi, not sure I would recommend this but to undo the LH nut on my single sided Daytona I slipped a piece of steel rod through one of the holes in the sprocket to lock the wheel with a piece of wood to protect the swinging arm. Then I used a 3/4 drive bar and socket with a four foot piece of tube on it, it came undone but it took a lot of heaving, it,s very tight!
Cheers Steve.
 
#6 ·
You may need need to unpeen the sprocket but on the lhs as there is a point on its edge where it is hammered into a recess in the threaded spindle below it.
This is important, it'll look like a dent in the nut. If you don't unpeen it it'll make it neigh impossible to get off.

I use an 18v Impact wrench. Makes light work of it. (kinda)
20v impact laughs at it, the front sprocket nut and the wheel nut. Best $70 I ever spent
 
#10 · (Edited)
Dave 88 is right. The crown of that nut is staked. It's dented. It will ruin the threads if you don't make certain it isn't touching any more. I used a small chisel because of the size and hardness. Once I got it to move with a large breaker bar I worked it back and forth to try to preserve the nut and not round the threads off. It didn't want to just unscrew.I felt the factory must have just tightened the hell out of it and some threads got damaged from that. They use a giant dent to stake it. That took some work to get round again. There is a torque setting. You cannot torque if the threads are not clean. I used a small triangle shaped file to clean them. Even as I was working it to get it to come off I could see the threads of the nut at the crown were not perfect. I worked on it, filed the damage down until I could replace it and make it finger tight by hand, then torqued it and put an ever so small dent to stake it. It doesn't require the crater size the factory tool made in order to work. Anything out of round will stop it from moving. The manual says to replace the nut. Well if those threads at the end are rounded by the nut the nut will be ruined as it unscrews past them. from how mine was, if I just forced it, the threads would have been ruined at the end of the axle, smoothed over all the way off so both would need replacing or it would be a bear to get back on and never torque. At least the nut. You'd never be able to know if it was tight or if it was just tight due to damaged threads. If you clean the threads you can get away with reusing the nut, against the manual. I did quite a lot of work to the threads of both. Filed some small because they were no good anyway and just damaging the nut. Now I can get the divot out and I know it is torqued right. I can get it off with hand tools easily. Only a few threads do most all the work but you want them undamaged. I guess I am picky. The threads under that crown aren't what is holding the nut on. Worst comes to worst the Dealer can get it off and replace all the damage quickly. It's a 5 min job that I turned into half a day. It''s perfect though.
 
#11 ·
As Mosschops said the left hand side uses a staked nut. To remove it you first need to "unstake" it. Not difficult; place the point of a small chisel or screwdriver into the groove and tap it to raise the punched section of the nut out of the groove. The nut should then release without damaging threads.

You shouldn't need a new nut. On reassembly simply align a clean portion of the shoulder with the groove in the axle and punch to restake it.

 
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#12 · (Edited)
There it is, all caved in. I took great pains to round it between a chisel and punches. I felt the entire thing had been torqued too much from the factory. Some threads looked stretched to me. It will come off but it pays to not strip things. Patience and gentle tapping, was easy once the sharpened tip of my chisel got under that crown. Still, that dent goes way in. A much smaller dent will prevent it from moving just as effectively.
 
#18 · (Edited)
  • I’m having the same issue with LH nut... tried all the methods mentioned and some combined as well but no luck. I’ve taken a photo for reference of of nut and grammar
  • Both brakes are on and bike is on the ground. It’s driving me crazy
You have to grind a bezel on the socket like this:
720846


For the socket to get in like that:
720847


Plus you have to support the ratchet w/ a stand like this:

720848


For the torque to be perfectly applied in the right rotational direction.

Given the state of the nut better change it once you'll be successful in getting it out.
Please not that on the picture the ratchet is screwing in so in you case it should be forward, not backward.
The best way to stuck the wheel is to strap the rear brake pedal to the center stand. Very secure and stable.
 
#20 ·
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#15 ·
Hi DK. Have you tried penetrating fluid? Those splines look like they have corrosion going on. Plus the nut is getting beat up, probably from the nut being stubborn. It is really frustrating when the socket slips off of the nut.

An added suggestion, since you will likely want to replace the axle nut once it's removed, I recently had to use a large adjustable pipe wrench to get the axle nut to come off of my Daytona. Similar condition of things too. There's a right way and a wrong way to use those, however.
 
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