well since ive been doing alot of tires latley on my bike[&o] this question keeps popping up in my head. when i tighten my rear axle nut and torque it down the spaces where the cotter pin goes threw never line up with the holes on the axle. So should you tighten it more so they line up?? or loosen it till it lines up like i have been doing??

 

not sure about the bike specifics. but on cars/trucks/trailers its always best to losen to the closest nutch. overtorqueing bearings can put flat spots on them.
but the bearings are different on a bike so i can't say with 100% confidence what is right for them.

 

I normally back off of the nut for the alignment of the key.

 

on my bike, if its a rch, id loosen it, if its closer to the tighten side, i tighten it. simple rule to follow i guess but on my bike, the axle only gets torqued to half the specs of the stock set up with the rims.

 

I'm by far no expert. But I was nervous as hell the first time I tightened the chain. I watched thsat sucker for the next 50 miles. A more than snug fit close to the hole for the pin with some lock tite. I realized 2k later when I changed the tire it was still the same tightness.

 

Beat it on with a hammer hoedogg...lol Thats how tight mine was the first time I messed with the chain slack, I needed a hammer to get it off.