my bike only has about 250 miles on it. this sunday i decided the chain needed a litle tightening. i proceed to loosen the axle nut. the thing was so freakin tight from the factory i couldn't break it loose with my 1/2" breaker bar. i'm thinkin somethings a miss, because i know the axle nut should be set to 69ft/lbs, which should be easy to loosen with a 1/2" ratchet. anyway, i went and grabbed my 3/4" breaker bar and managed to loosen the nut a few turns (the nut was tight as h#ll the whole time). i then tightened the axle nut a turn or two with the breaker bar to try and free it. good effort but no dice. i finally decided the threads were shot and i managed to slowly remove the nut and washer. the nut and the axle threads were seriously boogered up. i'm fookin pissed. i called my honda dealer and talk to the service manager. he calls american honda and they okay a new axle, washer, and lock nut for me free of charge. at first the a##'s didn't even want to give me a new washer. anyway, my bike has been sitting in the garage with no lock nut and washer. do you guys think i should be worrried about the wheel bearings, dust seals, or the spacer between the bearings being damaged from the God knows what amount of torque the factory tightened the axle nut to or should i just go ahead and slip the new axle in and torque the nut to 69ft/lbs as the manual states and be on my way? any thought would be highly appreciated. thanks for reading my vent bros, cheers to ya[sm=rant.gif]

 

I would think that the bearings and spacers would be ok. The bearings are pressed in with some serious force to seat them into the wheel. The spacers also don't have any give. It would take a lot of tonnage to squeeze one of those down. Seals would also be ok since they don't have any force on them. Are these bikes shipped with the wheels on? I've never seen one come right out of the crate. Maybe the dealer put that on there super tight or something, or even cross threaded it.

 

That's the question here. Robots don't **** up, people do.

 

what about the spacer sleeve that rides on the axle between the bearings (in the center of the hub). could that have gotten compressed or deformed at all from all the torque the factory put on it and me riding the bike 250 miles like that? also, i'm gonna clean the old axle thread area as good as i can, but what about any metal bits (former threads) that may fall off in the bearing, seal area when i pull the old axle out? thanks a ton for your replies[sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

Should be fine, but I would clean the spacers and axle with a towel or rag and regrease the axle. She should slip right in place. Take a look at the threads too before you put it back together.

 

If the threads are all buggered up, sounds to me like the nut just didn't go on properly in the first place, and that torque isn't really the problem. The reason it was so hard for you to get off was because it was cross-threaded. I wouldn't worry about the other stuff.

 

what you could see of the axle threads looked fine before i ever attempted to loosen the nut. it seems to me it was just torqued to infinity by the factory troll idiots.

 

i just don't want a bearing seizing up later and making me crash the bike due to the factory ****-up. i hope she holds together[sm=icon_rock.gif]

 

If that happens, you could own honda and give me free bikes!

 

sounds like it was cross threaded...and an impact wrench got it down pretty far...
you think that's tight...wait until you change your first filter! hahahah...