Rear Sprocket removal & Installation

[Matt_W]

I remembered reading in Dirt Bike magazine that removing the rear sprocket bolts is next to impossible, and boy they weren't kidding !! I have the correct size hex head socket and box wrench for the bolt and I still rounded the hell out of the nut !!! How the heck do you guys get these bolts out ? I didn't want to screw up the hub on a new bike, so I just took the wheel to a local shop who had the bolts out in 5 minutes. I hate not being able to work on the bike myself, especially when the shop charged me $10 for the 5 minutes of work. When installing the new sprocket do you use any kind of lock-tite ? The manual calls for lock-tite on the brake rotor but not on the drive sprocket ?? The torque specs on these bolts are only 30 lbs, so why the heck are they so impossible to remove ?

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Matt W

00 YZ426F

94 YZ 250

http://www.mattwilliard.com

"Don't worry about me, how's my bike ?"

[Hick]

A lot has been written here and in the mags about sprocket bolts backing out, leading to ruined hubs. Perhaps then Yamaha started using loc-tite on some bikes, I don’t recall seeing any on my ’01 but I remember the lock nuts were hard to get off.

But you still should have been able to remove them with a box end wrench without rounding them. I had to use a cheater, even so unless it was a cheap wrench I don’t think I’m strong enough to round off a nut bare handed (i.e. non-pneumatically enhanced ;o). Not with the closed end of a wrench, cheap sockets and open-end wrenches can ruin your day in a hurry, however.

If you buggered the allen head then you should realize that, when you have a bolt secured with a locking nut, the best way to go at things is by removing the nut instead of trying to turn the bolt (and hold the nut). This also applies when you reinstall, turn the nut (and take your torque reading there while you’re at it).

Using blue loctite on the bolts when you put it back together won’t hurt.

Hope this helps.

[Boit]

Yep, it helps it you can get a boxed end wrench on the nuts. If not, you need a sensitive touch on an opened end. What I find helps is to attack both the nut and Allen head bolt simultaneously. Use some penetrating oil first and let it soak for a while. I might add that switching to Ny-lock nuts for reinstallation makes things much easier and safer in the future. The Ny-lock nuts won't vibrate off, and they are much easier to remove. The downside is that you can only reuse them once. After that, they lose integrity.

[Matt_W]

I was using good ole' crafstman box wrench and hex head socket, so I know I wasn't using any junk for tools. I was only using the hex head wrench to hold the bolt while I tried to remove the nut, so I was going about it the right way. Maybe I am too strong, a few months back I snapped a 4-way tire iron in half while trying to change the tire on my wifes car, he he !!! Anyway, I've heard heating the bolts up helps quite a bit, as well as having some air impact tools. Unfortunately I have access to neither. I was hoping for some handy dandy mechanic tricks of the trade for this task. I thought about using the Ny-Lock nuts, but quite frankly they make me nervous. I don't trust their holding power, and I don't want to loose a hub in the process. It wouldn't bother me to have to buy new ones each time, as they are cheap and sprocket changes are few and far between.

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Matt W

00 YZ426F

94 YZ 250

http://www.mattwilliard.com

"Don't worry about me, how's my bike ?"

[Scott_F]

Matt, here's your handy dandy mechanic trick. Put the box end on the nut, then get another wrench and "hook" the box end on the open end of the first wrench. This will double your leverage, and make it easy to remove or tighten the nuts.

The only time you need to hold the allen head is to keep it from spinning when removing or snugging the nuts. Once they are nearly tight, the counterbore will hold the head.

[Tree_Slayer]

Hey Matt Righty tighty lefty loosy