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Tightening axle nuts
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Posted by: bigb426ex

How tight do you guys normally tighten the jam nut to the c-clip and also the lock nut (the skinny nut).

Posted by: 4TraxRider

I used to have a pair of wrenchs that fit both when i owed a 400ex. I've seen people do it with pipe wrenches but it leaves a lot of marks and rounds of the larger lock nut.

Posted by: svahle

Might do a search for this. I understand that if tightened too much it puts undue stress on the axle bearings which can cause them to prematurely fail. I snug mine down pretty good but I don't use cheater bars or anything like that. I have read on this forum that some just tighten them by hand and then another 1/4 to 1/2 a turn with a wrench.

Posted by: 4TraxRider

I just dug out my old manual for my EX, it says to snug the axel nut dow to about 10 ft. lbs, and then tighten the lock nut as hard as you can(within reason of course). If you tighten the axel nut too much it will cause uneeded amounts of stress on the bearings and would be the cause of them prematurely wearing out.

Posted by: Trevor

I use a pipe wrench and then wrap them in electrical tape to keep them from loosening off

Posted by: redline400ex

Noticed the last couple days my axel nuts were backing off also, I just tighten it by hand, I'm going to try lock tight, the blue color that should work, taking to a friend of mine and he said he alway had a problem with his comming loose also, so it seems it's pretty common....