this is what i use 25" handle

1/2" Drive 25" Breaker Bar

 

OCD case. If you actually have a wife or girlfriend, I feel sorry for her.

 

<-----Female

have a OCD B/F

 

Heat is your friend. You would have to get it extremely hot to melt the seal. The engine itself gets really hot remember. Just apply heat to the nut, Kawasaki must use some weird thread lock compound as I had the same issue with my ZRX1200. With careful application of a propane torch my crappy 18v impact was able to remove the nut.

 

Be careful with applying heat. There is more at risk than the seal, which, BTW, is designed to withstand about 285 degrees engine operating temperatures MAX. To break Red Loctite, you need a MINIMUM of 325 degrees. If the seal goes, you simply have to remove everything on the counter shaft again and replace the seal, once you find one, and hope it doesn't leak once you experiment with replacing a seal you've never replaced before. The "more at risk" is the tempering of the high carbon steel that composes the threads that holds this counter shaft sprocket on can be compromised. We then go from stubborn counter shaft nut to replacing counter shaft. Your bike, your call.

Before you pack up and go to the dealer, let's consider what the dealer will do that you can't. He's got breaker bars, extension pipes, and impact wrenches. He doesn't have a magic wand.

My suggestion: Haul the bike to a heavy truck / equipment repair shop that has high end impact tools and better regulated air pressure. I'm talkin' Caterpillar shop, Mack truck, Kenworth.....tire shop that does semi truck tires..truck lug nuts are spec'd to be torqued to 450-500 foot pounds, and it takes all that to get 'em back off. The mighty KLX counter shaft sprocket nuts gets torqued to a whoppin' 92.2 ft-lb. And those 22mm semi truck lug studs that get their nuts rattled on and off? Fine thread.

"you don't want mechanical tools that will screw up the fine thread"

We`ain't talkin' about beating a furry little bunny wabbit with a 2X4. It's a crude mechanical device with a jammed nut. There is no empirical evidence that a half inch breaker bar with a six to eight foot pipe applied by a 210 pound aggravated, angry, frustrated and likely slightly inebriated shade tree hack trumps the control-ability of an air regulated impact wrench. Nope.


My further suggestion would be to have the nut rattled off in NEUTRAL, not in gear. Run a rod through the sprocket holes above the swing arm. Sprockets are cheaper than transmission dogs IF there is a catastrophic episode....

I've had to cut the nut off, chase new threads, buy a new nut and get on with it. I've wore out countless cut off wheels on a dremel or air tool cutting counter shaft nuts off because beating on the side of an engine case with a chisel and BFH is bad ju-ju.

Remember: The dealer has no magic wand. He will experiment while you ain't lookin' over his shoulder. I have trouble trusting the outcome with my life. I agree, you've reached the point you need to reach out for outside assistance. Be realistic about the expectations. Heavy equipment shops rarely throw up their hands and say "guess we gotta take it to the dealer". They just buy better tools, like torque multipliers that enable them to break free things like stuck nuts without tearing things up. I am missing the correlation between this issue and a girlfriend, other than if you ignore a girlfriend, they'll eventually go away. Not the case with a froze counter shaft sprocket.

 

The moral of the story is to have the right tools for the job.

 

2 foot breaker bar, lots of PB Blaster, my 200 pounds, and a rubber mallet IIRC.

Only other C/S removal issues were on a KLR. Don't know what kind of gorillas Kawi employs but damn, they lock em down.

 

swap 13 and 14 all the time and never had problems just snugging it up and 1/2 azz folding the locking washer. Doesn't need to be torque spec tight.

 

Ok....finally got the counter sprocket off!!!!!!!

i wimped out....took it to the kawi dealer.....had it off in 30 seconds

As 250SM said " the moral of the story is to have the right tools"

thanks for all the comments

 

Remember to not torque the crap out of it when putting it back on. Service manual only calls for 65 ft lbs. Any tighter and it is a bitch to get off.