Spectre - Rear axle - Castle nut stuck

Hi all,

The castle nut on my real axle will not come free. I’ve tried saturating it repeatedly in Wd40 for 24 hours, heat, and gentle but firm raps with a hammer. I am using a 24” break but it just turns the whole axle and anything I stick in the hole on the opposite end of the axle to brace it just bends like butter.

I have seen on YouTube where someone just cut into the nut and hit the gap with chisel to break it loose. Before I go that far I thought I’d check and see if anyone had a better idea.

All the best - B
 

Does the opposite end of the axle have flats machined into the head?  That's true for the earlier models.  I use a big crescent wrench to hold the axle when torquing it.

Nope. No flats. Dang.

Yeah, I was looking around eBay and it looks perfectly round.  That was an odd choice for Kawasaki. 

I would probably just grab the head with a big pair of vise grips and then once I got it off replace it with an earlier or later model axle with a proper head.  Or grinds flat spots into that one for next time. 

I'm guessing it's like this?

 

How long have you been heating the nut? Sometime, you need to use it longer than usual. I know you need to worry about the oil and dust seal, but getting the nut off will be priority, I think. Tried MAP gas?

It was on metal to metal, but I once had to heat up tie rod about 5 minutes before I could turn and get that thing off...............BTW, I used regular hand-held propane torch for that.  

parts diagrams show both types of axles for the 750n Spectre. so maybe look into getting the axle w the hex head. as for the current problem, does the oem tool kit have a bar or screwdriver bit that fits the axle hole? my tool kit doesn't have anything, so I use a big hf screwdriver for the fr axle. rear axle has hex head.

Put a pipe wrench on the axle bolt head. 

I would suggest something other than WD40.  But what do I know?

For penetrating oil, try first cleaning with Brake clean and the soak in a mix of ATF oil and Acetone 50/50. 
add a couple of times per day then try again.

/A

nowadays, he may be using wd40 penetrant instead of reg wd40. could use kroil or liq wrench. lw is cheaper & available at a lot of places.

Try to file or grind the nut as flat/thin as possible next to the axle diameter. This will weaken the nut and remove the tention and binding on the threads.
Heating up the flat/thin part will penetrade more heat and stretch to the nut/thread expanding. A good wack with a chisel should the nut turn loose or break the thin part open.

 

Try Kroil.