Need Help!! Where does this part go???

So I have been putting my 81kz650 rear end back together, it has been almost a year since I took it apart. Not a great deal came off... shocks, wheel, axle, swing arm ect ect. So with my pops help(who has been messing with bikes since he was a teenager) we get the back end all put back together. Except this one part! Check the two pics below. Its brass colored so being a noob that looks important to me since they are not a lot of brass colored pieces on the bike. It looks like a really small version of the nut that goes on the right axle side, it has notches for a pin Im guessing like the axle one uses. Anyway, if you know what it is please help... it doesnt look like some standard washer or misc. part so I dont want to just be over it and be on my way then my bike blows up down the road.

It probably goes to one of the bolts on the brake stay rod that keeps your caliper from moving. The bolt
will have a hole in it for a cotter pin. Roy

The torque link uses that type of nut on each end; it's called a "castle nut."

Here's a pic.

Good Fortune!

Only two nuts look like that on my bike: the rear axle nut and the rear brake torque link nut. If the rear wheel is on, that leaves the brake torque link.......:laugh:

Interesting. I've got the same bike, but, instead of castle nuts, it has self-locking nuts on the torque link (stock).

JMKZHI wrote:

Interesting. I've got the same bike, but, instead of castle nuts, it has self-locking nuts on the torque link (stock).

The self-locking nuts are likely replacement items.

I like using self-locking nuts in lots of different fastener locations, especially the handsome stainless steel versions.

But have read that the nylon insert style functions best when first torqued down. And thereafter becomes less and less functional as the nut gradually loses its grip with successive loosenings and tightenings.

In critical situations such as torque link, I generally retain the castle nut, but with a hitch clip pin in lieu of cotter pin. Because the clip isn't as apt to cut a finger or snag a cloth when wiping the bike.

Same for the axle nut.

The hitch clip pin is also re-usable, and far quicker, more convenient and easier to deal with when adjusting the rear axle position for correct chain slack.

And most importantly, it looks cool.

Good Fortune!

Note closed end of clip faces forward (same as with master link clip on drive chain).

Unless someone replaced the factory nut and bolt in the torque link here is what is supposed to be there. This is on my '80 F1. Let us know....

Am vaguely recalling that being a "shouldered" bolt.

Good Fortune!

Bluemeanie wrote:

Unless someone replaced the factory nut and bolt in the torque link here is what is supposed to be there. This is on my '80 F1. Let us know....

That setup is very different than my '77 KZ650 Custom (rear disk brake) which came from the factory with castle nuts on each end of the torque link. I wonder if the bike in question is a C, B, F or some other model? I didn't see the model in his signature. Ed

Patton wrote:

JMKZHI wrote:

Interesting. I've got the same bike, but, instead of castle nuts, it has self-locking nuts on the torque link (stock).

The self-locking nuts are likely replacement items....

Nope. They're stock originals. I bought the bike new in 1982 - it was a leftover from the previous model year. I'm the only person who's fiddled w the rear wheel.