Rear wheel tightening?

Patton wrote: Were wheel bearings replaced before reassembly?

Yes new bearings, spokes and rims, original hubs, break arm in place but not torqued, could it be the bearings? there was a sleeve if I remember correctly that set location.
Thanks

T_Dub wrote:

jonnybravo wrote:

mvent wrote: 78 KZ1000, have rear wheel centered, chain on, caliper in place, brake arm attached, assembled spacer sequence using manual, must have screwed up because when I tighten castle nut wheel won't spin, what did I do wrong, HELP
Mike

i HAVE BEEN ADVISED BY A INDY WHO WAS A WRENCH/DEALER for Kawasaki IN THE 70'S ( AND KNOWS these BIKES BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS) TO PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE TORQUE spec, tighten till firm and thats good, worked for me, now the others will slam and advise against, so ...... ur decision

When you torque it down you're torquing an assembly of steel spacers and bearing housings, not torquing it has absolutely no advantage whatsoever. I'm sure the guys at Kawi who wrote the service manuals just arbitrarily made up a torque value, knowing that those experienced 1970's american mechanics would figure it out.

well actually he was certified by Kawasaki as a tech in 73 when the Z1's came out ( and has 40 years experience in the business) so ur condescending attitude is misappropriated, also ur inference or arbitrailly made up values/ American mechanic ??? :whistle: WTF is that all about, and as far as manuals are concerned, they 're all perfect right ???? :blink: :silly: :huh:

Manuals are not all perfect by any means but a for a bolt of that diameter, 100ft-lbs is sweet fuck all. If you can't tighten it without your wheel binding then you have some other issue you better sort out.

yes sir will do

Tightening the Axle, should only apply pressure to the spacers and Inner Bearing races. There are no Tapered bearings that could be lose or tight by Torque values.
Look at the diagram and find which spacer you have either miss-installed or forgotten.

mvent wrote:

Patton wrote: Were wheel bearings replaced before reassembly?

Yes new bearings, spokes and rims, original hubs, break arm in place but not torqued, could it be the bearings? there was a sleeve if I remember correctly that set location.
Thanks

Could be mistaken, but thinking an improperly seated or damaged wheel bearing might bind against the axle when tightened.

Good Fortune!

Yeah theres a sleeve in the center of the wheel and if the bearings aren't seated well against this it could cause some binding when you tighten.

If the new bearing is placed in the freezer overnight (or at least a few hours) or chilled with dry ice immediately before installation, it may more easily drop into position.

May combine this technique with also heating the wheel area where the "frozen" bearing is being inserted.

Good Fortune!

T_Dub wrote: Manuals are not all perfect by any means but a for a bolt of that diameter, 100ft-lbs is sweet fuck all. If you can't tighten it without your wheel binding then you have some other issue you better sort out.

Absolutely. The spacers and the torque on the axle nut do not apply any forces that should affect the bearings' ability to spin because when things are in place and properly aligned no lateral forces are applied to the bearings. As someone else mentioned, this is not a tapered roller bearing like on some cars that is preloaded based on how much torque is applied to the axle nut. Tightening the axle nut on the KZ is intended to keep the axle in place in the swingarm slot; not tighten the bearings. If the axle nut is too loose the axle could slip forward or backward during heavy acceleration or braking. The KZ650 torque value for the axle nut is 72-101 ft lbs. That's pretty tight (about the same as a car lug nut). Leaving the nut lose because the wheel binds is simply compensating for the symptom of a problem you haven't yet identified. No slam intended, but the truth is that any mechanic who suggests that as a permanent solution is simply too lazy to diagnose the source of the problem or he doesn't understand the relationship between the rear wheel bearings, spacers, axle nut, and swingarm. It doesn't matter to me on a personal level if you leave all the nuts on your bike lose because your mechanic is convinced he knows more than the folks who designed the bike, but I suggest you at least consider the fact that every bike that left the factory had the rear axle nut tightened to the spec and on every one of them the rear wheel turned freely. Coincidence? I don't think so. Ed

yeah spec between 72-101 lbs,theres a reason they give you 2 numbers with a big space in between the 2. :laugh:
anybody who doesnt think you can over tighten that axle and nut enough to make that swingarm pinch in against those spacers and bind them up against the bearings should pull the rear wheel off of a kz1000 and look at how it actually goes together rather than just looking at a cartoon picture out of a shop manual somebody posts,or better yet just go out and crank the the nut on their rear axle to 150'lbs and see how it works.

Cartoons, haha. I think the reason for the gap in the values is that they also want you to install the cotter pin, so if you need to back it off/tighten a bit to do that then the torque will be still within the range. I personally tighten mine with a long box end 1-1/8" wrench, tighten it hard, then line up the pin. This sometimes means its a tad looser than my initial tightening, sometimes a tad tighter.

Motor Head wrote: Tightening the Axle, should only apply pressure to the spacers and Inner Bearing races. There are no Tapered bearings that could be lose or tight by Torque values.
Look at the diagram and find which spacer you have either miss-installed or forgotten.

squeeze that swingarm tight enough and see how that wheel turns! :woohoo: