no offense, but...pretty sure cranking an axle nut that tight would cause some rapid bearing burnout. I have a "cheap" torque wrench made by sears and used Harley specs over a year and thousands of miles ago and nut hasn't budged and thats axle in from the left and no retention device just blue threadlock

 

Even if you torque one down you should come back shortly and recheck...bike or cage....and loctite works.....

 

I was thinking the same thing JustDave said about the bearing burnout. I used a Craftsman torque wrench and torqued the nut to 65 lbs. I don't know which would be worse, having the bearing seize up or having the axle bolt come out. Either one ends with the same results.

 

I think it also depends on which spacer you have. Depending on which wheel you have in 99, there were two different spacers used. One that was a fairly thin tube with flanges at each end, and the other one was a solid pipe about a 1/4" thick. I have the solid ones in mine, and I don't know how you could compress them, even at 100 ft. lb..

 

none taking its all about the feel been wrenching on harleys since 1978 when i bought my first xlch 1000 the only time i torque any thing is on motor builds and then thats just usually the jugs and heads with a quality wrench i use a mac other than that its just been about the fell l inever even tourqe the cam plate or any cover what so ever.

 

ive seen a lot of crazy stuff in this forum wheel bearings burning out, and people stripping thier drive pully bolts and the only reason i can come up with is most people that are having these problems are relying to much on factory specs. and dot common sense i have had my drive pully off at least 1/2 dozen times and am still using the original bolts,i just clean up the threads in the wheel with a bottoming tap apply loctite to the bolts and use my 1/2 drive with a breaker bar and torque the bolts to mft standards and i have never had a problem with them lossing up ,or stripping, or burning up throw the fricken manuals away if you rely on them soley to do your own work years of experince and common sense gos a long way in keeping a harley running good.

 

[quote=JustDave71;6969597]no offense, but...pretty sure cranking an axle nut that tight would cause some rapid bearing burnout. I have a "cheap" torque wrench made by sears and used Harley specs over a year and thousands of miles ago and nut hasn't budged and thats axle in from the left and no retention device just blue threadlock[/quo

 

I don't think it's about compressing the spacers as much as putting side-load on bearings that aren't intended to be subjected to it.

never say never has his way and I respect that, but...there's a reason there are torque specs. Sure, some of them are capricious but in high-stress situations like wheel bearings, etc I'm pretty sure manufacturers know what proper specs are.

Seems to me that putting a 1/2" drive breaker bar on an axle nut and cranking til you can't is asking for bearing failure but hey...if it's worked til now I guess I'm wrong!

 

You best find an axle with a hole drilled thru it (factory issue) on the threaded end and get a factory manual...The rest is fairly easy!

 

I didn't read ALL the replies but... yes, should have had a lockwasher or had a nylon locknut with a flat washer. I don't remember the exact year they went to the castle nut/drilled axle but that's what I got as a replacement for a damaged axle circa '92. The main reason to "not exceed torque" is that too much pressure with the axle nut will crush the swingarm at the spacers.

Drive belt tension will cause all kinds of vibration until you find the correct adjustment for that bike. Some you can set to specs and they're fine. Mine has to be set nearly 1" play when cold, else it'll get way too tight when up to temps. It doesn't take much variance to change them either - I'm talking like 1/2 castle turn (1/12 nut rotation at a time) And if it vibrates when you first start riding and then goes away - you're real close but on the loose side and if it's the opposite, smooth when cold and vibes when hot, you're real close on the too tight side...

And of course primary chain adjustment will have a lot to do with it all but that's generally felt only in the engine or front of bike whereas drive belt will make the whole thing vibrate...