I'm trying to remove the center nut that holds the clutch in the bike. I am thinking the same guy that puts on the countershaft sprocket nut also tightens this nut!!. Seems really tight. Turning the nut turns the whole transmission. I put the bike in 6th gear and held the brake but no dice. All i did was slip and skin the top of my hand! I don't want to go down the wrong path and end up breaking something, so I am on here searching for "how to " posts. Not finding much though. The manual says to remove the left side engine cover and buy a tool that holds the flywheel. I'm not looking to do all that. Has to be an easier way. Anybody remember seeing a post on this?
Thanks, Dan

 

Dan,
I slipped a penny into the gears. This was in some other threads here and was apparently the repair manual's instruction for other bikes. Worked great for me. Bends the penny, gears took no damage. No pics, but here is where I reported it in the 351 build.

Other guys pulled the left side cover off and used some tool (strap wrench I believe) to hold it.

 

Thanks Scott, I remembered reading about the penny trick, but I only have my clutch cover off, so I have no access to the gears. I may end up pulling that cover too, but geez
Was that nut tight? Lefty loosey ?, threads look to be normal RH threads. It seems like I should be able to get it loose by locking up the rear wheel, just don't want to over do anything.
Dan

 

Lefty loosey. It was tight.
Don't be scared. Take that right side cover off and check your oil pickup screen. Mine is the only one I've seen posted up and I'm interested to see what others look like.

If I were you, I'd probably pull the left side cover off and get a strap wrench from Harbor Freight if I didn't have one already.

Or, can you lock up the rear wheel against the swing arm like I do when changing the counter sprocket? I find a deep socket that fits through the rear sprocket holes and lock it against the swing arm which let's me get that damn counter sprocket nut off.

 

Don't waste your money on the HF strap wrench. POS and will break on you (tried one on a home water filter once!).

I have never tried the "penny trick", but an impact wrench, rear brake knowing that the lock washer is COMPLETELY Flat seems to work for me.

 

Thaks for the help guys, I got it , it was tight! I stuck a piece of barstock through the rear sprocket and against the swingarm. Applied a little heat to the nut and then put an extension on the socket wrench handle. Still had to pry pretty hard to get it to budge.





Used the rear rotor when torque -ing down the nut after the swap out.

 

Thats using your noodle. Good job and thanks for the pics.

 

Dan: I knew you could do it! Right on. I like the bar stock. My 49T JT rear sprocket had nice round holes and one socket would fit in there perfectly. The 45T has triangular shaped holes that don't hold a socket nearly as well.

 

Here's something else to consider as an option. When doing my 300 kit, I took both left/right covers off and used an air impact wrench to take everything off. I had to install a new cam chain too, and that required even the right side crank nut to come off. On reassembly I found that the bolt/nut torque rates on the flywheel, crank nut, and clutch hub allowed me to follow a sequence where I was able to alternate between these fasteners to tighten the clutch hub and crank nut without having to use any fancy holding tools. So what I'm saying is that I was able to use simple hand tools and a torque wrench to tighten all these critical points by just alternating from the tightest ones to the less tight ones. Does that make sense?

 

Hmmm, jamming some re-bar down the plug hole always seems to work for me.....