Hi everyone.
Here my problem on my 98 banshee.
The rear sprocket went loose a bit (sideways). Actually, it's the whole transmission on the axle that went loose. The sprocket itself and the bracket that relies it to the axle. This went loose like .5 mm on the side.
To fix it, I just tightened the two big nuts on the axle right on the left of the sprocket. I seems to have fixed it.
Was that the thing to do? Is it normal?
I haven't ridden since I fixed this (10min. ago) so if I did something that should never have been done, it's still time to stop me!

 

Those big nuts are a pain to keep tight, and you have to keep and eye on them. You need to check and see if your wheel bearings are loose. There should be no movement at all in the rear where the axle passes through the housing. Be aware, even a slight movement in that area means the bearings are in need of replacement. In order to be very sure, you should remove your rear axle and check to see if the bearings are OK. They should roll very easily and freely with your fingers, if not, pony up for some bearings and seals. If you haven't been servicing them and you ride in water, you probably need them.

 

This is a common occurrence with Banshees. I along with friends of mine have had the same problem. A quick and cheep solution is to loosen the nuts up so that you can clean the threads of the nuts an axle well with alcohol or some other solvent. Take care not to get any solvent in the carrier or on the bearings. Once the threads are clean apply some blue Locktite thread locker or equivalent. Tighten and hopefully forget it. Since I did this with mine it hasn’t loosened. That was about six months ago. I still check it though just to make sure. Another fix it to get one of the many after market axle lock nuts, RAD-Loc, POSI-LOC ect. For about $60. But you have to remove one hub to put them on. If this problem persists you can ruin the splines on the axle and then kiss it good buy. Hope this helps.