Rear Axle bolt torque

Greetings everyone,
A question about tightening the rear axle bolt. I have a '79 SR650. I have just replaced the drive chain and sprockets and am now ready to tighten up the rear wheel. After aligning the wheel and checking the chain tension I attempted to tighten the axle nut but I noticed that the wheel really binds up the tighter I adjust the nut (This is the actual axle nut on the left side...not the adjusting nuts behind the axle).
How tight should this axle nut be? I cannot find any torque spec in my manual or owners info book. It just seems to be too hard to turn the rear wheel with the nut really tight. Should I simply tighten it "a little bit" and insert the cotter key, or should I tighten it up "a lot" and not worry about the stiff turning?
By the way, the axle bearings appear clean and in good shape and with plenty of grease, so I don't think it is a bearing and I am quite certain I have re-assembled the rear axle correctly...
Thanks for your help. You have a great forum here.
-DB
Great Lake State

davenkids2001 wrote:

...After aligning the wheel and checking the chain tension I attempted to tighten the axle nut but I noticed that the wheel really binds up the tighter I adjust the nut (This is the actual axle nut on the left side...not the adjusting nuts behind the axle).
How tight should this axle nut be?....

Dude, hold everything....

I think you have re-assembled your wheel incorrectly. You should be able to put an enormous amount of torque on that axle bolt (I know, I do) to keep it tight and from sliding back-and-forth when you accel/decel.

The way the wheel innards are designed, there are spacers and such that no amount of pressure is placed on the bearings or the moving/spinning parts.

Just take it apart and re-check everything!

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Here's the Kawasaki.com parts diagram in hopes it may help find the problem.

Thanks everyone for your replies. As suggested, I took the wheel all apart last night and checked it against the diagram. I had it assembled correctly the first time. So I carefully cleaned and lubed it all again and re-installed.
This time everything seemed to work fine. After tightening the nut to 87# I checked the rotation and the wheel spun freely. I dunno what I did wrong the first time...maybe I bound the rear brake or something...
Anyway, the problem has been resolved. Thanks again for your replies and especially the diagram + torque spec.
-Dave
Chelsea MI

I just had this problem last night. Tight rear wheel after having it off.

I had my rear wheel off last night to do my rear brake rebuild.

When I put my rear wheel back on and tightened the axle bolt, my wheel does not spin easily.
I did put new brake pads on, but when the axle bolt is loose, the brake does not drag at all and the wheel spins easily. I greased the caliper mounting bolts, and the caliper does have movement back and forth (floats) when tightened, as it's supposed to. I don't think it did before I started as it was dirty and dry on the mounts.


The chain adjusters are different. One has a built up area (thicker) like a large washer attached to one side.
Which side does this adjuster go on? Left, so the thicker area is on the outside of the swingarm, or on the right side so this thicker area is on the inside of the swingarm? I tried both ways and the end result is the same, wheels tight.

I'll recheck and clean it, but other suggestions welcome.

One chain adjuster is different than the other? Mine are the same on my B models, but I see on earlier production C models the right adjuster was a different part # and was only used on the KZ650C so if this is the case, the thicker one would go on the caliper side of the swingarm with the thicker part inward. I'd remove the caliper and tighten the axle bolt to spec. (spec being as tight as you can tighten it to line up one of the kotter pin holes). If the wheel spins easily then at least you know everything is OK on it then procede to the caliper.

I had a problem with my rear brake binding before. It still does sometimes if I dont move the bike for awhile. You might try prying the pads apart and see if it turns freely then you can at least eliminate the brakes as the problem. As long as the wheel is straight and there is the correct amount of slack in the chain you should be able to tighten that bolt really hard with no effect on the wheel spinning. My bolt is all crossed up so I installed it with a 1/2 inch impact gun until it wouldnt tighten anymore and the wheel still spins free (I've since bought a new bolt but didnt have it on hand at the time).

The adjusters can go on either side, as long as the adjusting marks are out and up on top.