So after getting a slice in my rear tire, I upgraded to the 180 with the wide tire kit. I did all the work but brought the tire to H-D to swap tires, mount & balance. I put the tire back on, and rode to Laconia (250 mile roundtrip) and noticed that my Willie G skull axle cover had turned. So I kept an eye on it and it continued to rotate (the nut was loosening.) So, in an attempt to make a long story, um, not so long... I had noticed that the right adjusting bolt was not completely seated at the fork/swingarm. But if i tightened it in, it would throw out the alignment. So with everything loose, I took a rubber mallot and gently tapped that bolt until it was seated against the fork/swingarm, then realigned everything, and also put a lot of blue locktite on the axle nut and torqued it a little tighter than the service manual specifies. I then marked all four nuts/bolts with white fingernail polish (for easy removal, and no, it's not mine )to check for movement. Haven't gone too far since but it seems to have worked. Has anybody ever heard of something like this happening? Is there anything else I should check?

 

make sure you belt adjustment screws are tight, and do not forget to put back on the retain clip, i use a bit of blue lock tite on all mine

 

The axle nut is critcal and should be torqued to spec, overtightning may lead to premature bearing failure.
You don't want that to happen.

 

I put my axle in from the left side so the nut is on the right so naturally the nut wants to tighten instead of loosen like it does when it's on the left due to the rotation of the tire. I know, I know, the axle doesn't spin, etc. It's a trick we used when I raced motocross and never had an axle nut loosen after flipping it around.

 

I was told by an experienced, formidable mechanic that these use ball bearings and not tapered or beveled (something like that) so over-tightening is not an issue. However, if I didn't over-tighten, it would keep coming loose so I don't think I had a choice.

 

Overtightening should not be an issue. The bearings have a spacer in between them inside the hub that rides on the inner stationary portion of the bearing, then the outside axle spacers ride on the same part of the bearing only on the outside. So unless you tightend it enough to actually crush the portion of the bearing that rides on the spacers (VERY UNLIKELY) you shouldn't have an issue.