You Can Safely HAND TIGHTEN Your Rear Axle Nut!

Joined
Feb 29, 2016
Messages
195
Location
New York
Just kidding! :eek: But read the following....

When I bought my 04 ST 1300 it had 3000 miles on it. The PO had Honda do all the work and had all the receipts. He had them go over the bike and install a new battery before selling it. And on the bill they R and R ed the rear wheel and greased the splines. (remember that!)

I flew out to buy the bike and rode it home 2000 miles on the freeway using my freeway protocol. That would be speed limit + 10 mph indicated or 5 mph faster than traffic whichever is greater. That meant 85 for about a thousand miles. When passing left lane blockers I saw over the ton on the speedo.

At 7500 miles it was time for new tires. I got my 27mm socket and breaker bar, spit on my hands and had at the rear axle nut. There was ZERO torque on the nut! You could loosen the nut with the socket alone thru the interference fit part of the threads! I thought Youre lucky not to be dead but the internals of the rear axle must be toast!

But everything was fine. I torqued the nut and kept an ear peeled for expensive noises but there werent any.

I now make it a point to check ANYTHING I have anyone else do to the bike...
 

ToddC

Site Supporter
Joined
Feb 2, 2015
Messages
4,158
Age
60
Location
Seven Bays Wa
Bike
2006 ST1300A
Just kidding! :eek: But read the following....

When I bought my 04 ST 1300 it had 3000 miles on it. The PO had Honda do all the work and had all the receipts. He had them go over the bike and install a new battery before selling it. And on the bill they R and R ed the rear wheel and greased the splines. (remember that!)

I flew out to buy the bike and rode it home 2000 miles on the freeway using my freeway protocol. That would be speed limit + 10 mph indicated or 5 mph faster than traffic whichever is greater. That meant 85 for about a thousand miles. When passing left lane blockers I saw over the ton on the speedo.

At 7500 miles it was time for new tires. I got my 27mm socket and breaker bar, spit on my hands and had at the rear axle nut. There was ZERO torque on the nut! You could loosen the nut with the socket alone thru the interference fit part of the threads! I thought Youre lucky not to be dead but the internals of the rear axle must be toast!

But everything was fine. I torqued the nut and kept an ear peeled for expensive noises but there werent any.

I now make it a point to check ANYTHING I have anyone else do to the bike...
Check all your Tupperware clips and pins. Every time a dealer touched any ST I have had....I had to fix 4 to 8 different connection points.

Just my two cents....

ToddC
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Messages
829
Location
Medina, Tennessee
Bike
2021 Tracer 9GT
STOC #
375
Scary. It seems like the rear axle nut has some sort of spring retention built in, but that is besides the point. All it did was keep the nut from vibrating off.

Years ago I had just finished riding one of my favorite twisty roads at very extra legal speeds on a '97 900ss that I owned. The bike felt funny when I pulled away from a stop, and I looked down and the swingarm axle was halfway out of the frame! I had just re shimmed the swingarm, and later realized that I did not have the steel swingarm clamp bolts tightened to steel specs, I had used the aluminum spec instead. On top of that, the snap ring on the swingarm axle failed. Talk about a lesson learned!
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2011
Messages
1,117
Age
70
Location
Ada ( Grand Rapids ) Michigan
Bike
'07 ST 1300 & '91 GW
STOC #
8421
That's why I learned to do my own maintenance on all my vehicles , learned long ago to not trust stealers . Only got burned real bad in 2008 with the new R1200RT lemon with the worthless BMW warranty
 
OP
OP
Joined
Feb 29, 2016
Messages
195
Location
New York
Scary. It seems like the rear axle nut has some sort of spring retention built in, but that is besides the point. All it did was keep the nut from vibrating off.

Years ago I had just finished riding one of my favorite twisty roads at very extra legal speeds on a '97 900ss that I owned. The bike felt funny when I pulled away from a stop, and I looked down and the swingarm axle was halfway out of the frame! I had just re shimmed the swingarm, and later realized that I did not have the steel swingarm clamp bolts tightened to steel specs, I had used the aluminum spec instead. On top of that, the snap ring on the swingarm axle failed. Talk about a lesson learned!
Wow Id say you got me beat! You got to double check everything.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2015
Messages
2,028
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
Bike
91 ST1100/06 ST1300
When I bought my 1100, the PO had just gotten it back from service...carbs, plugs, fluid changes, tires, battery, brakes and calipers..., I rode it the 80 miles home. It's a habit of mine to check everything myself. All was except, the oil filter was barely snug and was beginning to seep oil and both battery terminals were snug and moved when I flexed the wires. A little diligence is usually a waste of time, but little periodic saves make it worth while.
 
Joined
Apr 8, 2017
Messages
191
Location
Wisconsin
Bike
2006 Honda st1300
That's why I do all my own maintenance. I don't trust anybody else to work on my vehicles.
 

Andrew Shadow

Site Supporter
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
5,070
Location
Montreal
Bike
2009 ST1300A9
I was also the victim of critical fasteners (the ones holding the front wheel on no less!) being loose. By the time that I found that this was the source of the noise that I was looking for I had already been over 100 MPH several times. Scared the $#%@ out of me to think that the wheel could have come off at those speeds.

Front End Knock
 
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