Drive Shaft Tightening Sequence

Did you know that certain bikes with a drive shaft should have the rear wheel tightened in a specific sequence? Yes it is true, if your bike (or a bike you are working on) has a drive shaft with a cushion drive you should tighten it in a way that will not bind the cushion drive. These bikes have a flange that fits into some rubber cushion devices and can get misaligned when tightened in an incorrect manner. This will result in a premature wear of the drive gears and/or all items in the drive unit over a long period of time. It will not be obvious right away unless it is so bad it makes a grinding noise or the rear brake squeals. It can go unnoticed for a long time in many cases and wear the rear out faster than normal. This can all be avoided with the application of a tightening sequence when replacing any items on the rear wheel from the drive housing to the tire.

Begin by loosening all hardware where the drive shaft mounts to the swing arm, the axle, axle pinch bolts, all rear brake mounting hardware and shocks mounted on the rear drive or swing arm. Next, since the main concern is how straight the drive flange sets in the rubber cushions we tighten the axle first. The correct torque is needed. This will vary from model to model. All torque values for this procedure will vary so it is important that you find them and use appropriate values. After the axle is tightened you will tighten the rear end to the swing arm. This sequence has allowed the flange and rear drive gears to settle in their best alignment. You have now removed any whine noises from that noisy rear end or prevented it from occurring to a unit that did not have it before. Now tighten an axle pinch bolt if it has one. This leaves us to continue with the tension on the shock mounts (bottom mounts only are loosened and then tightened). Finally the rear brake stay device is tightened while holding the pedal down. This will help quiet some of that unwanted brake squeal for disc and drum units.

 

Here are the rubber cushsions in the wheel hub.

 

 

These are the flange fingers that go in the rubber mounts. Notice that they are bolted to the out put gear.

Tighten the axle nut first.

 

These are the bolts that fasten the rear to the swing arm.

Here is an example of the brake stay bolt. This is tightened when holding the brake pedal down.