[Dustin McGrew]

I tried removing the rear axle on my kart tonight and I’m failing.

I watched the Wrench 2 Win DVD today and saw how that guy took his rear axle out. Everything on his kart just seemed to slide right off super easy. On my kart (Birel RY-30 S3) It seems like everything is very tight on the axle. The hubs take a lot of force to get off. I have to tap them with a hammer to get them off. I can’t  get the sprocket carrier to budge either.. really don’t want to go smacking everything with a hammer unless its really necessary. I tried pulling on the axle to see if it would slide out but it only moved about 4mm. It looks like it might be getting hung up on some small grooves that were made from the set screws.

Is it normal for everything to seem so stuck/tight on the axle? Any tips on actually getting the sprocket carrier to budge (should I really hit it with a hammer?). And is there anything I can do about those grooves where the set screws were? If I need to hammer on this axle should I use a rubber hammer or a regular metal hammer with something placed between it and the axle?

[Morgan Schuler]

If the axle has never been removed or hasn’t been removed frequently it isn’t unusal everything is stuck. Yes, use a rubber mallet to hammer everything off/out. Go get some emery cloth, it’ll be around the sand paper at the hardware store. Spray the axle w/ WD40 and go to town with the emery cloth to knock down the burrs from the set screws, hubs, sprocket ect. You could also get a hone for your drill to use on sprockets and hubs.

[Dustin McGrew]

Thanks Morgan! That’s what I thought I’d have to do but wanted to make sure first :)

[Walt Gifford]

Take out the pinch bolt and tap a screw driver into the split line to spread it and it will slide off easily. Use a piece of flat wood to tap the end of the axle even if using a mallet, very easy to bend the end of an axle. The axle needs to be free of any high metal a small fine file followed by fine sand paper works then clean it good. Don’t hone a hole with a keyway.

Gif

[Ted Hamilton]

I’ve also found that if you’re very careful, you can rethread the pinch bolts in from the back and tighten them down onto a washer slid into the groove and that levers the split open without dinging it with a screwdriver…. Be careful not to really crank down or bugger up the threads, though.

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