I feel a bit of a numpty to ask this, but never having had to remove the front wheel on my lightly-used Raptor 1K, I was astonished to see no evidence of a hexagon on the spindle, either internal or external! I do have an owner's manual and it does indeed show an open-ended spanner of a type I thought had gone out with the ark, suggesting it should be with the bike, but I don't think I have it unless it's hidden somewhere. Likely a hammer is required to remove the nut, but it isn't obvious as to how one might torque it back up to the specified setting.
In the end, I used a standard 22mm OE spanner, but it has a shallower jaw than seems optimum. Is there such a thing as a 22mm two-flat socket available?
How do others address this problem?
Thanks,
Nick
Front wheel axle
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Re: Front wheel axle
There should be a black pouch under the seat near the battery with tools in it, and it should include the spanners to remove both wheel. Mine also had a flattened piece of pipe that slips on the end of the spanners to give more leverage.
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Re: Front wheel axle
Thanks Aussiejoe, but I wish the answer was that simple! Not only is there no visible tool-kit 'neath the seat; I can't see that there's enough room for one unless it was crushed into all the battery leads and relays. Possibly, a PO has fitted a bigger battery? Whatever, it amazes me that so many bikes seem to 'lose' the tool-kits that are meant to help out on the road.
Given that no-one else has a better idea and/or knows of available tools, I think I'll try and make a special socket to fit the front axle. At least the rear spindle has a hex nut at one end!
Nick
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Re: Front wheel axle
Th owner's manual says the front and rear axles should be tightened equally, to 75 ft/lb or 100Nm. Sounds pretty tight to me, though I agree that the front is a much more stable fixture.
Nick
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Re: Front wheel axle
Point taken but, theoretically, the bearing centres should be supported by the inner spacer so that axle clamping force doesn't tighten them up. Your experience suggests the bearing outers weren't seated properly or there was some dimensional fault somewhere. The fork/wheel assembly does need to be rigid, so I guess that's why Cagiva set the torque high. With the assymetric-damping of the Matris cartridges waiting to go in on mine, that is important. The Matris shock is fitted, though I did need to relieve the top mount for clearance. Joy of joys, the shock actually notices my weight when I sit on the bike, so that's a good sign!
I'll post a pic of my special tool when it's finished. It fits much more snugly than any open-end spanner so, whatever torque I use, it can't slip off!
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Re: Front wheel axle
Here's the tool, made out of 1/4" gauge-plate (high-carbon ground flat stock), with a half-inch-drive cutout to fit a tee-bar or torque-wrench. I'll probably leave it unhardened as it is very strong as-is. It would be nice to say it was laser-cut or even by water jet, but a fine hand-saw and files plus quite a bit of time to achieve a good fit was the order of the day. No requests for copies, thanks very much.
If one of the previous owners of my Raptor hadn't stolen the toolkit, I probably wouldn't have bothered!
Nick
If one of the previous owners of my Raptor hadn't stolen the toolkit, I probably wouldn't have bothered!
Nick
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