Tightening wheel axles - pinch bolt first or after?

[Dirk_S]

When I tighten up my rear axle nut, I hold a wrench on each side--my AC Delco digital torque adaptor or click-style wrench on the rod side and a normal wrench on the nut side, often requiring the use of an extension to the handle for the 75+ Nm of torque required. Once or twice I’ve secured the axle pinch bolt first, and then torqued the nut. Is this OK, or should I stick with straddling the wheel/swingarm? Straddling the wheel with wrenches on both sides can be cumbersome due to the extensions and adapters. The only thing I can think of with the pinch bolts in use is making sure the axle seated all the way up against the swingarm.

[Tom H]

IMHO, you should leave the pinch bolt loose when you tighten the axle. This allows it to pull itself in to the wheel. If you tighten the pinch bolt, you would likely pull the swing arm in.

Tom

[Dirk_S]

IMHO, you should leave the pinch bolt loose when you tighten the axle. This allows it to pull itself in to the wheel. If you tighten the pinch bolt, you would likely pull the swing arm in.

Tom

Solid point. I may need to figure out a better method to do such, because my socket wrench in the field is a 3/8” and the digital torque adaptor is 1/2”, requiring some upsizing and downsizing adaptors. Maybe there’s an opportunity on either side for a bumper stop to allow both arms to focus on just one side.

[John A]

If the pinch bolt is done up first then to get the axel nut so it takes the clearance out of the bearings the swing arm has to bend. If the drive was loosened, the axel and pinch is tightened before the four nuts . Same deal on the front for the pinch . A caution on the front is that the lower leg around the pinch will crack on the side of the large end of the axel if it is drawn up too tightly. That is one place a torque wrench will you on trouble , snug is all you want there.

[sib]

I agree that the pinch bolts should be tightened last.  Also, a word of caution:  The double pinch bolts at the front wheel should be tightened and LOOSENED evenly, or the fork end could break.  To loosen them, I go a half turn at a time, alternating between the bolts.  For tightening, I use a torque wrench and start at a low torque, alternating, and up the torque setting to the final value in a few steps, while still alternating.

[sdcr]

Excellent advice here, especially about tightening the double pinch bolts.

[n3303j]

75+ Newton meters is more than needed to properly stack the bearings and retain the wheel. 25 ft/lb will do the job well and allow disassembly on the roadside with wrenches in the tool kit.

[Dirk_S]

75+ Newton meters is more than needed to properly stack the bearings and retain the wheel. 25 ft/lb will do the job well and allow disassembly on the roadside with wrenches in the tool kit.

I said 75+ Nm, not remembering what the actual torque spec was. Just checked—it’s 100 Nm for the rear wheel axle, or about 73 lb ft. (120 Nm for earlier models).

I appreciate the vote of relaxed assurance, but beyond just getting the bike temporarily down the road, I’ll personally try to reach that 100 Nm spec.

[Tom H]

I wanted to add this.

I have used the pinch bolt to help me get things snug. Released pinch bolt, tapped/wiggled/looked at marks where the swing arm sits to make sure it was not bound up. Then due to the axle friction, just tightened the axle nut to very tight. Then tightened the pinch bolt.

This is just a guess. Let's say you have the axle nut tight to very tight and all slack in the bearing/wheel assy.  has been taken up....... Then....I would "think" you could use the pinch bolt to hold the axle and "torque" the nut?????????? Again.....just a thought???

Tom

[chuck peterson]

On the rear, leave the four nuts holding the rear drive on, loose until the end. When you torque the axel nut your seating the rear drive correctly to the wheel, with the bearing compressed correctly

Those four nuts on the drive close the “square” of the swingarm (looking from above) with the least possible movement.

If you tighten the rear drive onto the swingarm first you can get it rotated slightly off

Those four nuts are tightened last.

This also suggests that when removing or replacing the rear wheel it’s easier to pull off the rear wheel with the rear drive attached. Pull off the right muffler and pull it out altogether after yanking the axel

Hat tip dr dave, guzziology I believe

[moto-uno]

 AXLE , come on guys , it's only 4 letters  . Peter