Double check your mechanic...

[Klutch556]

I just wanna remind y'all to ALWAYS double check your mechanics work. Hell, double check YOUR work too.

I had my wheels powder coated by a local guy. Good dude, works mostly with cruisers but figured what the hell. Anyway, I got my bike back and trailered it home and parked it for the winter. Got her out and drove to work, no issues. On the way home this truck behind me started flashing his lights, blowing his horn, got next to me screaming at me to pull over so I did what any logical dude would do and I waved, blew him a kiss and removed myself from that situation.

Once I got home I noticed my chain was laying flat out on my swingarm... Turns out my axle block and axle nut were gone on my brake side and the axle was backed out about half an inch... I'm assuming they came off and smacked ole boys truck and that's why he was acting a damn fool.

Anyway, I still have a pit in my stomach thinking about how this situation could have ended. Think I'm gonna drill an pin my axle.

 

[Bumblebee]

I just wanna remind y'all to ALWAYS double check your mechanics work. Hell, double check YOUR work too.

I had my wheels powder coated by a local guy. Good dude, works mostly with cruisers but figured what the hell. Anyway, I got my bike back and trailered it home and parked it for the winter. Got her out and drove to work, no issues. On the way home this truck behind me started flashing his lights, blowing his horn, got next to me screaming at me to pull over so I did what any logical dude would do and I waved, blew him a kiss and removed myself from that situation.

Once I got home I noticed my chain was laying flat out on my swingarm... Turns out my axle block and axle nut were gone on my brake side and the axle was backed out about half an inch... I'm assuming they came off and smacked ole boys truck and that's why he was acting a damn fool.

Anyway, I still have a pit in my stomach thinking about how this situation could have ended. Think I'm gonna drill an pin my axle.

View attachment 1653018

Acting like a "damn fool" trying to save your life...

Could have ended very badly if that axle had backed out...

 

[Klutch556]

Acting like a "damn fool" trying to save your life...

Could have ended very badly if that axle had backed out...

No, this guy wasn't trying to help me in anyway... He was swerving at me and poop. Got next to me in my lane and tried throwing something out the window at me but it didn't make it out.
He was pissed something hit his shiny bro'dozer.
The block and nut Came from the right side of the bike. I was on the right side of the right lane. There's no way he could have seen what it was.

 

[dave s]

I'm amazed you never felt nothing,
I agree always double check any work and I always torque axle bolts and recheck after the first ride, luckily you made it home with no damage done

 

[Klutch556]

I'm amazed you never felt nothing,
I agree always double check any work and I always torque axle bolts and recheck after the first ride, luckily you made it home with no damage done

I've never experienced anything like this before, so I could tell something was off but I didn't know what and it didn't feel catastrophic.
You know how it feels when you have a couple semi trucks in front of you on the interstate? How their air stream kinda pushes you around a bit? It felt like that. I chalked it up to being a windy day.

 

[Bumblebee]

No, this guy wasn't trying to help me in anyway... He was swerving at me and poop. Got next to me in my lane and tried throwing something out the window at me but it didn't make it out.
He was pissed something hit his shiny bro'dozer.
The block and nut Came from the right side of the bike. I was on the right side of the right lane. There's no way he could have seen what it was.

So some sort of psycho then....

 

[hayabuser]

As a dealer tech, this sort of thing haunts me. As paranoid and careful as I am, it takes very little distraction to miss something small but important like a front axle pinch bolt, or similar.

Consider my 7 hour day day involves 6-10 different bikes on my bench with work varying from a simple oil/filter change to tire changes to chain replacements, to major services to PDIs, etc, etc. It's a wide variety of tasks but also repetitive after weeks and months. I try very hard to make sure that everything I touch is retouched just prior to rolling the bike off the bench but sadly stuff happens. Distractions in the middle of a job by the service writers, the other staff, management, the Snap On guy, customers who wander into the shop, breaks, lunch, the list goes on...

Every mechanic has his/her habits and practices that they develop over the years, safety nets to catch errors before they appear though and the more experienced the wrench, the more they have in their arsenal but again, all it takes is one distraction to cause that record to skip.

Glad your mechanic's 'skip' didn't result in a much worse scenario for you, and know that once he/she finds out about it, they'll feel really terrible and rear axle nuts will jump to the top of their paranoia list from now on.

 

[Klutch556]

So some sort of psycho then....

If I had any idea why the guy in the truck was trying to run me off the road I would of happily stopped and taken an ass whooping lol.

As a dealer tech, this sort of thing haunts me. As paranoid and careful as I am, it takes very little distraction to miss something small but important like a front axle pinch bolt, or similar.

Consider my 7 hour day day involves 6-10 different bikes on my bench with work varying from a simple oil/filter change to tire changes to chain replacements, to major services to PDIs, etc, etc. It's a wide variety of tasks but also repetitive after weeks and months. I try very hard to make sure that everything I touch is retouched just prior to rolling the bike off the bench but sadly stuff happens. Distractions in the middle of a job by the service writers, the other staff, management, the Snap On guy, customers who wander into the shop, breaks, lunch, the list goes on...

Every mechanic has his/her habits and practices that they develop over the years, safety nets to catch errors before they appear though and the more experienced the wrench, the more they have in their arsenal but again, all it takes is one distraction to cause that record to skip.

Glad your mechanic's 'skip' didn't result in a much worse scenario for you, and know that once he/she finds out about it, they'll feel really terrible and rear axle nuts will jump to the top of their paranoia list from now on.

We're all human broski. I ain't mad at him. I was when I first saw it lol but that was because I was scared shitless and angry and just wanted to blame someone other than myself in the moment.
I work in quality control at a machine shop and am always worried I may miss something that could cause someone to get hurt, so I understand how you feel.
We live we learn and hopefully we can do better.

 

[mabupa]

I just wanna remind y'all to ALWAYS double check your mechanics work. Hell, double check YOUR work too.

I had my wheels powder coated by a local guy. Good dude, works mostly with cruisers but figured what the hell. Anyway, I got my bike back and trailered it home and parked it for the winter. Got her out and drove to work, no issues. On the way home this truck behind me started flashing his lights, blowing his horn, got next to me screaming at me to pull over so I did what any logical dude would do and I waved, blew him a kiss and removed myself from that situation.

Once I got home I noticed my chain was laying flat out on my swingarm... Turns out my axle block and axle nut were gone on my brake side and the axle was backed out about half an inch... I'm assuming they came off and smacked ole boys truck and that's why he was acting a damn fool.

Anyway, I still have a pit in my stomach thinking about how this situation could have ended. Think I'm gonna drill an pin my axle.

View attachment 1653018

I would’ve needed fresh undies after seeing my rear axle like that.

 

[Bumblebee]

I definitely would be raining toads down upon that dealership...a certain expectation of professionalism comes into play even with distractions and whatever, if your tire came off your car on the way home from a tire change, I'm certain that would go over like a fart in church...

 

[WuzzaCBXRider]

Looking at the picture it appears that the adjuster bolt was tightened to the bare axle. How could the bolt be where it is in the picture if the axle nut was there to begin with?

 

[mabupa]

Looking at the picture it appears that the adjuster bolt was tightened to the bare axle. How could the bolt be where it is in the picture if the axle nut was there to begin with?

All it takes is one twist of the throttle and the chain pulls everything forward.

 

[WuzzaCBXRider]

All it takes is one twist of the throttle and the chain pulls everything forward.

Explain how the adjuster (nut) is in the right position? I’ve never seen that many threads showing on my adjuster bolts. It’s extended all the way out as if the axle nut was never there.

 

[mabupa]

Explain how the adjuster (nut) is in the right position? I’ve never seen that many threads showing on my adjuster bolts. It’s extended all the way out as if the axle nut was never there.

The adjuster bolt won’t move but axle is pulled forward. I assume that the arm is aftermarket and uses longer adjuster bolts than OEM.at least that’s what it looks like to me but maybe the slot is that long on a factory arm and I just never pair attention.

 

[Klutch556]

Explain how the adjuster (nut) is in the right position? I’ve never seen that many threads showing on my adjuster bolts. It’s extended all the way out as if the axle nut was never there.

its pulled up against the adjuster bolt because i backed it into my garage causing the axle to slide forward against the bolt. giving it throttle would snap the axle back to the rear of the axle slot in the swing arm.

 

[Hayabusa Wannabe]

@Klutch556 I am glad that you are intact!

Years ago I was at a well-known chain muffler/suspension place and witnessed a customer cussing out the manager. They did suspension work on his car and subsequently he was getting off the freeway and a tie-rod came loose. He lost the wheel and careened across the crossing road at the exit light. Briefly I felt bad for the manager who was taking a pummeling. But he assured the customer with something like, "We will replace the tie-rod no problem!" Uh oh. One cannot be sure how he meant it but it sounded like the typical line that they would do the absolute minimum required. The customer clearly understood a bit about the suspension and replied that it is likely that x and y are bent and they were not merely going to replace the items they touched but will replace all of these things that would be affected. I probably got my muffler and left as I do not recall any more of it.

To those of us that do no mechanical work the thought to double check the mechanic is unhelpful, unfortunately. A perfect parallel to this disaster: I was just examining my VFR fork as there is something wrong with the ride. The axle has a nut on one side and not the other.

[Legal disclaimer: Internet sample image that may or may not reflect the owner's actual bike.]

My first thought is should there not be a nut there and why does this not fall off? That is how it is built though and I do not understand it because I never pulled it apart. Thus every look at the hardware is somewhat of a first look for the uninitiated. Only someone who does a good deal of work can double check other work.

 

[Kiwi Rider]

I cannot imagine how nervous it will make a customer after having this happen, faith and trust in the mechanic is lost forever .
I had a wheel alignment done on my car years ago and had to check all the adjuster locknuts. I never had a problem with the car thankfully.
I have NEVER EVER had anyone else work on my bikes.

 

[Klutch556]

The adjuster bolt won’t move but axle is pulled forward. I assume that the arm is aftermarket and uses longer adjuster bolts than OEM.at least that’s what it looks like to me but maybe the slot is that long on a factory arm and I just never pair attention.

ah yea, i think i misunderstood wuzza's question earlier. Yes, mab is correct here. I have a 2-4" extended swing arm. my adjuster bolts are longer than those on a stock swingarm since they have to allow for adjustment.