ATC 250es front axle trouble

[biggsauce]

Hey yall this is my first post and i'm looking for some suggestions.

My uncle gave me his '85 Big Red 250 for christmas because it wasnt running and he didnt feel like foolin with it. Talk about one hell of a present! It hadnt ran in over 2 years and when it did, he said it needed a good shot of starter fluid to start and would hardly idle. After cleaning the tank, petcock, and carb, it runs like a bat outta hell.

The only problem I've had is gettin the front axle out. It wont unthread from the fork. Aerokroil, liquid wrench, impact wrench, breaker bar with a cheater pipe, and one broken socket later, that thing wont budge. Has anyone else had this problem? I want to replace the bearings, brake shoes, fork seals and the tire, and this thing is bout to drive me crazy. Do yall think using a torque muliplier will snap the axle? I work at a machine shop and if the axle breaks off at the threads I can get it fixed, but I want to avoid that.

Any suggestions?

[200xman]

Welcome to the boards! What I find works best is penetrating oil, some heat on the fork leg by the threads and a good 1/2" drive air impact. Work it back and forth with the impact and they usually come out unharmed. The axle can stick in the brake backing plate too so be sure to get some oil in by there.

[Tri-ZNate]

PB Blaster + breaker bar with a cheater bar + a Prayer = Sucess

[yamaha_ripper98]

haha i had this happen on my 225dx pb blaster heat and repeat like 10 times then i used vicegrips cheaterbar and hit hard but not really hard with a came right out.

[aproudcanadian]

i have the same problem and did all the same things, even broke a socket, haha

[DeePa]

make sure you loosen the 4 nuts which hold that little square piece tight. It holds the axle tight against the forks.

[Louis Mielke]

heat, wrench, repeat.

make sure you loosen the 4 nuts which hold that little square piece tight. It holds the axle tight against the forks.

That too! lol

[DeePa]

unfortunately the only reason i know that is because of the 2 sockets i broke forgetting to loosen them up.

[biggsauce]

haha yeah I remembered to loosen them. My problem was remembering to tighten them back up before goin out for a ride.

Would the heat required to make a difference affect anything delicate in the forks? I've never dealt with them before...

and thank yall for the suggestions, I'll try that this weekend. I need to get it soon because its almost springtime!!!

[tbirdscott]

Just use a propane tiger torch, I dont think it would generate enough heat to hurt anything. heat, penetrating oil, repeat. It will come out eventually.

Scott