[Guest]

I ride a 2001 M750
The last time I had my rear wheel off was this past August. Previously I had no trouble removing the bolts or extracting the axel. I put the bike up on my rear stand (the kind that supports the bike on both sides of the swingarm) and supported the wheel with some blocks of wood, loosened the nut on one side while providing counter force to the nut on the opposite side (to keep those d*mn alignment taps from pivoting with the nut and scratching up my swingarm). I might have had to tap the axel out from one side with a hammer but I don't remember having to use excessive force to persuade it out of the wheel. In the meantime my axel had been rapped up in a shop rag and some of the grease was wiped off. There was still a thin coating of grease and I ignorantly decided not to apply more before re-installing the wheel. I also had some confusion about the orientation of the tapered spacer. I recall positioning it so that the pointy end faced the wheel bearing and the flat end rested against the swingarm. I am still not sure of this. ???

Now on to the current problem.
I used the same procedure this time. When I got both axel nuts off I could not tap out the axel. I tried putting a block of wood against the end of the axel and tapping, then pounding on it with a standard hammer. I tried twisting the wheel as if I were checking for bad bearings. I still cannot get the axel to budge. I can spin the axel with my hand but I don't know if this is just inside surface of the bearings spinning and not the axel itself. What I can't do is get the axel to budge even a tiny bit to either side. I can even completely loosen one of the nuts and have the other still be so tight that I cannot turn the axel (even though its tightness should be trying to pull the axel through). I don't really know what else to do and I am afraid that I may have already damaged my wheel bearings by attempting to dislodge the axel by pounding on both sides of it.
I have just sprayed some penetrating compound on the exposed parts of the rear axel but I am not too optimistic about this either since it may damage my bearing seals.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions (or an old hydraulic log splitter) please feel free to point me in the right direction.

Thanks
-Gabe

 

[Andrew_Cornett]

I would say to take a philphs head screw driver (big one) and put it against the bolt and take a 5lb mallot and give it a good wack. Once it is disloged should slide right out. I could be slightly rusted do to lack of grease. Who knows.

 

[niuginisbk]

Gabe,
you said you got the axle nuts off, did you get the alignment tags off as well? if the alignment tags are still on you might find that the metal has squashed & reduced the ID of the hole. This happened to me & i had to wind the alignement tabs off (like undoing a nut) then file the hole out.
This may be hindering your axle removal.

Yes the pointy end goes to the wheel bearing. Chris has a step by step proceedure for removal & assembly on his web site.

Hope this helps.

 

[ScottRNelson]

Never had a problem with the Monster, but both of my ST2 axles won't move without the help of a hammer.

Make sure the rear spacer has the flat side against the swingarm. If you try it the other way, you'll chew up the swingarm.