Axle Wrench?

I'm trying to lighten up my tool pack a little and was thinking of buying one of those nifty billet aluminum axle wrench. I was told that they go up to about 90 ft/lb of torque. But the TE axle nut is spec'd at 105. Can the aluminum ones hold up to that much torque?

I use one for all my bikes. I don't torque to a particular spec, so I can't say for sure that it will go to 105 ft-lb, but it certainly goes tight enough.

Be careful in the garage. If you crank on the rear axle with a steel socket and a big breaker bar, you might have a heck of a time getting it off trailside. Just torque it with the aluminum wrench or use a shorter ratchet.

As Kyle said. Loosen and re-tighten with the tool you will carry on the trail. In the old days when bike came with tools, my Honda and Kaw each had a closed end 5 inch wrench with a sleeve/sliding handle extension. The light aluminom Motion Pro axle wrench/spoon is what I use now and it's get's about 1/3 turn shy of full torque spec.

LOL! I was waiting for someone to chime in with this one.

The rear axle nut does not have to be anywhere near that tight, a motion pro wrench/tire spoon is what I use. For the front wheel, I use the Zipty nut 3/8 socket or you can use Kelly's aluminum hex nut.

So I keep everything torqued to spec. I'm anal about that. Now Tinken, since it doesn't need to be 105 lbs of torque, what would be a safe setting to torque it to? I do put anti-seize on the threads by the way.

That Zipty bolt is a pretty cool idea. I've never noticed them
on the site before.

Kelly, what size wrench does your bolts take? Will they work with the cafe husky wrench?

Motosportz Mike sells Kelly's 15mm wrench model found here: http://www.motosportzhusqvarna.com/Husqvarna TE, TXC, TC, SM, 449, 511.htm
Ours: http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/billet-front-axle-nut.31275/
Uptite's is found here: http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/up-tite-axle-nuts-are-also-available.6492/

60 ft-lb.

(Nobody can give you some sort of exact number for this, it's just a judgement call.)

Thanks for the links. I went poking around last night and saw all three of those.

Now I'm confused, though, is Kelly not Motosportz from this forum? Who's Mike?


At this point, between feed back from here and on thumpertalk, I'm leaning towards going tu-bliss. So maybe I can get away with carrying just a tubless plug kit instead of a tube, axle wrench and tire irons. Those three make up the bulk of the weight. I've run tubless rims or converted to tubless on all of my last five mountain bikes. I'm definitely liking the idea of running lower pressures on the MC. The problem, though becomes tire choice. I've noticed that with the few tires I've tried on my motorcycles, they really start to wallow around with lower pressure. I'm probably going to put a trials tire on the rear. Haven't decided on a front tire yet though.

It takes big balls to run tubliss and not carry a spare tube, in my opinion. If I was to run tubliss, I'd still carry a tube and the means to change it.

I do not see tubliss as a way to reduce spare parts load. I see it as a way to run lower tire pressures for improved performance without constantly getting pinch flats. However, if something does go wrong, without a spare tube, you're pretty hosed.

Even if you don't carry a tube, surely you want to carry tire irons...

For wrenches, I use the Motion Pro spoon/wrench for the rear, and I made my own front axle nut (patent pending! ). Most of the aftermarket nuts require a 15mm wrench, which is a size that zero other fasteners on my bike(s) use, so that doesn't make any sense. I run a 12mm front axle nut so I can get it off with common tools. ZipTy's nut uses a 3/8 square drive, which isn't a bad idea, but I carry a 1/4 inch drive on my bike. A 1/4 to 3/8 adapter packs pretty small...

It would be nice if there was a lightweight (maybe latex) tube for temporary use. I've done a few searches and didn't come up with anything but Heavy Duty motorcycle tubes. Heavy duty tubes are very heavy.

I carry a T-handle that has both 1/4 and 3/8 drive with sockets like 8 and 10. Theres no way to fix some things without one. My oil fill cap is 1/4 socket drive etc.

I'm not too keen on the Tubliss, I run ultra HD bridgestone in the rear and HD front with slime. I have never had a flat, but still carry a front tube. I wouldn't be concerned about weight vs protection unless I was riding motocross. II'm sure first time you get a flat in the middle of Egypt, you won't either.

The Motion Pro wrench/spoon plus the Motion Pro Socket attachment is just so damn versatile. I only use 3/8 drive for most stuff but have 3/8-1/4 adapters for small sockets. What comes in super handy is that the MP Socket is a convertible 3/8-1/4 adapter, so if you need to go from say a 1/4 socket to a 3/8 short extension and then a 1/4 torque wrench (such as for back of the case fasteners) the MP works as an adapter as well multipying it's versatility (the back of the 3/8 drive is hollowed out and a female 1/4 socket). The MP wrench and adapter allow you to just carry a short 3/8-1/4 adapter and a short extension. On the trail I am not carrying a ratchet so saves some weight.

I can't comment on motorcycle tubeless conversions. I have no experience there. I can tell you that tubeless on mountain bikes has been a revolution. I'll never run tubes again. But in that arena, I do always carry a backup tube to use in the event of a puncture or sidewall slice since they are just a few ounces, and easy to install into a tubeless specific or converted rim. It's a five minute deal.

I did come across this, though, and it seems encouraging: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=831867

I raced for 5 years and the last 3 on Stans tubeless. It worked great but I would never ride without a spare light weight tube. I have had tires with sidewall cuts that in no way could be sealed. I always carry a tube and a few dollars or a large cut section of old inner tube. The inner tube or dollar bills can be used to patch the sidewall cut so the tube doesn't bubble out and you can limp out of the outback.

I figure with the 510, the extra weight of the heavy duty tube isn't going to hurt much!