Motorcycle Axle Nut Wrench?

[thinman]

What rear axle nut wrench do you take when you travel on your bike? One of my bikes has a 27mm rear axle nut and the other has a 32 mm. I like the idea of being able to take a wheel off if I have a flat tire. But carrying large tools on a motorcycle is a pain.

Torque is maybe 90 ftlbs and nuts are castled for a cotter key, so super long handle wrench isn't really necessary. What do you guys carry that's light and just "big enough?"

 

[kawtoy]

I carry a cell phone. If I get a flat it is not like I going to change it on the side of the road. Certainly not going to take the rear wheel off and leave the bike sitting on it's center stand on the side oft he road. Who is going to take me to the tire store anyway? Just call a flat bed

 

[CoopVA]

I have my wife follow me around in my pickup truck...

 

[2oolhound]

How about a couple crow foot wrenches, of coarse you'd need a flex bar or ratchet but they're small. I've always changed my own tires and been lucky enough to not have a flat in middle of nowhere. I've often thought of rigging a set up to tap into a spark plug hole to pump the tire up. You'd shut the gas off and let the motor run out of gas then install the "pump" and turn the bike over to fill the tire.

 

[thinman]

Cell phones are good but are not entirely helpful for loosening an axle nut to adjust a chain in the less dramatic situation than a flat tire represents. I ride old bikes and part of the price is sometimes working on them when one didn't plan to.

 

[daddy2coull]

I have my wife follow me around in my pickup truck...

You must own a Harley......

 

[Outlander]

I have my wife follow me around in my pickup truck...

I laughed out loud. Then remembered my wife came and picked me up 30km away when the water pump on my ATV crapped out in the woods. Of course I was sitting in a hotel bar chatting while she dragged herself out in the cold

 

[thinman]

Thanks 2oolhound. I just looked it up. SO makes crowfoots in 3/8 drive that go big enough. A 3/8 breaker bar is not too big to carry.

've thought, too, about cutting off a pawn shop combination wrench open end and having just enough handle left for the box end to still get the job done.

 

[CoopVA]

You must own a Harley......

Yep...

 

[thinman]

Hey daddy2coull when I owned a Harley we used to carry the bike in a pickup and unload it to ride around town when we got to the destination. With an old Harley I worried about more than a flat tire.

Old Kawasaki has been pretty reliable but there's something to be said for riding a newer bike. . . .

 

[daddy2coull]

Yep...

I shouldn't laugh. I own a ducati

 

[JBradley500]

Have you looked at motion pro t-6 tire spoons that have the hex on the end?

 

[rmc115]

I carry a tubeless repair kit and very small pump. no way to get tire off a 800lb bike. Mike

 

[firebox40dash5]

I carry a 10" ( I think) wide-jaw Crescent wrench. Not the most ideal, but I try not to need it often, and it worked when I have needed it. It also works on the chunk of 19mm hex stock for my front axle, in case I need to... yeah, I dunno.

 

[RRmech]

I carry a can of Fix-A-Flat in my tank bag.
Cell phone coverage can be pretty 'iffy' in my area, especially up in the mountains.

 

[STANIMAL]

You can buy a bike specific axle wrench that will fit at both ends .

 

[dledinger]

Have you looked at motion pro t-6 tire spoons that have the hex on the end?

I've wanted some of those for a while. Perfect solution.

 

[Flange]

Have you looked at motion pro t-6 tire spoons that have the hex on the end?

 

[Stuart in MN]

You should mention what motorcycle you're talking about - I assume it didn't come with a factory tool kit that already has the necessary wrenches? If not you can get specific tools from a number of aftermarket suppliers, here's one: http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/45061/i/cruz-tools-combo-axle-wrench

 

[CoopVA]

I shouldn't laugh. I own a ducati

Yeah, and I ended up with the odd ball Harleys too... '79 ******* Ironhead and the last Shovel before the Evo...

 

[Westly]

If I'm going far enough that I might need to loosen an axle nut (new tires or adjust the chain) I take a tool kit in my bag which includes some sockets and a beam torque wrench.

If you aren't going far enough to need a bag, you aren't going far enough to need to loosen an axle nut.

The factory tool kit would do in a pinch - a short handled box wrench thing that could be hit with a rock... And pliers to fight the cotter pin with.

 

[dmftoy1]

What rear axle nut wrench do you take when you travel on your bike? One of my bikes has a 27mm rear axle nut and the other has a 32 mm. I like the idea of being able to take a wheel off if I have a flat tire. But carrying large tools on a motorcycle is a pain.



Torque is maybe 90 ftlbs and nuts are castled for a cotter key, so super long handle wrench isn't really necessary. What do you guys carry that's light and just "big enough?"

I've got a tool roll that'll do it that I carry on multi-day rides, but a good plug kit and compressor is all you need 99% of the time and mine is not so big that carrying it is any big deal. (Stop-n-go)

 

[A_Pmech]

I keep an 8" crescent wrench in the tool kit for rear wheel nuts. I torque the nut by standing on the wrench with the heel of my boot. Close enough!

Here's an old photo I remembered of doing a chain in a hotel parking lot the night before a 3,000 mile weekend. You can see the crescent wrench.

 

[STANIMAL]

That must have been a very long weekend . Three thousand miles ?

 

[nicksnothereman]

What rear axle nut wrench do you take when you travel on your bike? One of my bikes has a 27mm rear axle nut and the other has a 32 mm. I like the idea of being able to take a wheel off if I have a flat tire. But carrying large tools on a motorcycle is a pain.

Torque is maybe 90 ftlbs and nuts are castled for a cotter key, so super long handle wrench isn't really necessary. What do you guys carry that's light and just "big enough?"

Probably not possible to do a replacement while traveling...unless you mean fix a flat or slime. Probably don't need to take it off to use that you just need to roll it around for a while.

That much torque? You could probably carry a 1/2" breaker and torque wrench with those axle nuts (if you have cotters you'll need some sort of puller). That's the leanest you can go; you'll need the torque wrench unless you have torque stick(s). That would work. Breaker bar, axle nuts, pin puller (if necessary) and a torque stick. Should be under 5 pounds.

 

[A_Pmech]

That must have been a very long weekend . Three thousand miles ?

Yuuup! Hyper touring.

In that case I left Friday evening and came back Monday morning. I took that little GS all over the country very regularly, which is why I wore a chain out a thousand miles from home.

 

[theknurl]

having had 3 flat tires in 1,400,000+ mi on bikes.....

and only having 1 bike with a center stand......

go to the auto parts store and buy a Monkey Grip silly string kit......then get some CO2 cartridges and the tool to use them

than all you need is a pair dikes to pull the nail/screw

done

like i'm carrying a breaker bar for the 176 lbft on the tapered 55mm wheel nut on my MVs

 

[bwringer]

For most bikes, you don't need a breaker bar -- just something strong enough and with enough length you can give it a good kick. As mentioned earlier, the stock tool kit usually contains a means of removing the axles.

For my KLR650, I bought a wrench made specifically for this purpose -- it's laser cut from sheet steel with the correct sizes for that bike:
http://www.aerostich.com/klr-axle-wrench.html

As long as it's not seized, and you're using a clip or cotter pin, or a self-locking axle nut, axle nuts don't need all that much torque. A decent Crescent wrench will work fine.

For bikes without a centerstand, a trail stand works quite well. That's what I carry on my KLR650 and my V-Strom 1000: http://www.endurostar.com/

If you're on one of the Italian bikes that uses a huge nut... then I guess you're SOL. At that point, you call your Chauffeur and ask him to hitch up the trailer to the spare Bentley...

Fortunately, it's very rare to actually need to remove the wheel on a bike with tubeless tires. If you have a puncture, they can be plugged easily in situ, unless there's some very unusual damage.

 

[kawtoy]

Maybe it is because I take very good care of my bike and do good preventative maintenance before long rides. Maybe I am just lucky but in all the bikes I have owned (literally hundreds because I flip them as a side job) I have never had to replace or fix a tire on the road. I have had a few flats waiting for me in the garage after a long ride but knock on wood I have never been stranded. My normal rides are

64 Honda C95 Benly
73 Triumph Bonnie 750
76 Honda CB125
80 KZ1000 drag/street bike

 

[theknurl]

bwringer;
I carry silly string, CO2, a pair of dikes and the alloy 55mm socket on the MVs

in addition to the stock tool kit

on the Aprilia, KTM and Bimmer, silly string, CO2, a pair of dikes and the stock tool kit

current bikes have ~157,000mi and 1 flat, an Arrow T-50 staple got the Brutale with both points.....it went flat in my garage

 

[ZRX61]

If I'm going far enough that I might need to loosen an axle nut (new tires or adjust the chain)

No need to loosen the axle to adjust the chain on a ZRX (& a few other Kaws)

 

[pfbz]

What rear axle nut wrench do you take when you travel on your bike? One of my bikes has a 27mm rear axle nut and the other has a 32 mm.

Riders wrench... 27 and 32.

About $20 each.

Originally made by fredette, now moose, msr, pit posse, etc.

 

[ttpete]

I carry a plug kit and a small compressor. I also carry a AAA RV road service card that's good for a 100 mile motorcycle tow. That'll get me someplace I can get help or a rental truck in case something catastrophic happens.

 

[Westly]

157,000mi and 1 flat

50,000mi, and one almost flat. I noticed a roofing tack sticking about halfway in the side of my tire. Had picked it up in a turn, but recently enough that another turn hadn't pushed it all the way through.

 

[tdkkart]

I carry a tubeless repair kit and very small pump. no way to get tire off a 800lb bike. Mike

Easy..........Seen this done multiple times.

 

[kyrbz]

I use "Ride On" tire sealant in all my bikes tires, however the last flat I got was the inner tube split around the valve stem which isn't something that Ride On would work on. Ride On is really good stuff though.

http://www.ride-on.com/motorcycle-formula-mot.html

I also keep a small 6" Wright adjustable wrench that I get from Epstein's in the tool kits of all my bikes. The 6" does the axel nuts on all my bikes but I can see some bikes needing a larger size wrench. I also think a Knipex Plier Wrench would be a really good versatile wrench to have in the tool kit.

 

[bareass172]

While I like the idea of the specialty wrench above, I'm really not a fan of single task tools. I carry a crescent wrench (like mentioned above) because I can do a lot more than just axles with it, if need be. Just make sure before you leave that you know it opens wide enough to get that 32mm...

As for flat tires, I carry an ingenious little bit of kit. Rather than carry a compressor, even a small one, I carry a small air hose with 2 locking air chucks on each end. Be sure it's long enough to reach from one tire to the other (~10' or less for most bikes) and you're good to go. If you get a flat you can siphon air from the good tire to the flat one - 40PSI in one tire does no good with 0PSI in the other, but 20PSI in each will get you to a gas station.

I bought mine from Stop N Go a few years back:

http://www.stopngo.com/

They sell a lot of flat tire solutions, including a hose that turns your engine into a compressor.

 

[NC-Shaun]

Silent Bob /\ Now we can finally talk

 

[PRND3L]

Another option, bicycle headset wrench, available in 32mm. The Pedro's are strong and light with a plasti-dip type handle.