My 03 Kodi with about 3000 miles on it has a rear axle issue. The wheel flange that goes on the left (brake) side of the axle is sloppy on the axle. The splined end of the axle appears to be rusted and there was a lot of dirt built up between the splines. Some of the spline ridges are worn and shiny but the inside of the flange appears to be fine. Shouldn't the axle be made of harder material than the flange? I'm going to run it like it is for this year since that big nut and washer will stop the wheel from falling off and totally rebuild the rear axle over the winter. I'm just wondering if this is a common trait of these meachines with such low mileage. The other side of the axle is fine. What is the axle made of? There is no visible rust anywhere on it other than what appears to be rust on the left splined section of the axle.

 

I guess it isn't a common thing....

I took of the flange on the other side and when I took the nut off there was some slop on that side as well, the nut was stopping it from moving. Both the splines and flange are perfectly clean and new looking on that side. I'm thinking that they come like this new and the nuts are supposed to stop any movment but with regular wear on the bearings in the pumkin etc it loosens up over time on the brake side because of the way it's designed. I did notice that Yamaha has an updated flange p/n now... hmmm.....

 

I think I have my issue resolved for now. I ended up tightening the castle nut a couple notches which seems to have taken the looseness out which allowed the wheel to wobble. I had it out on my paved driveway and checked it after and it was still tight so hopefully I saved it in time.
I suspect that this may have been as a result of normal bearing wear inside the axle housing, when this happened the clearances opened up causing the flange to be loose.
I would recommend anyone with this machine to at least jack the back end up and check the brake side wheel for play in the axle/wheel flange junction. If it is even the slightest bit loose tighten up the castle nut (and use a new cotter pin) to prevent the slackness in the spline (which appears to be designed that way, other side was loose when I backed off the nut too) from getting worse. If there is movement it will probably wear to the point where the wheel spins on the axle.

 

Great info! I will def. check that on mine this week! I only have 670 miles or so, but it could happen!

Thanks for posting your findings!!!!!!

 

My rear axle problems are back, tightening didn't help for very long. I'm starting to think that I have a bearing going or something. Unless the nut was not tightened properly from the factory etc allowing the splines to wear. Either way I'm going to have to do a complete rebuild now on the rear axle. I wish I took my jack when I went to look at it, I would have discovered the problem and wouldn't have bought the quad. I'm off buying used stuff for good now.

 

Well I finally got the parts and my mechanic buddy's help to replace the axle. I also replaced both wheel collars, both axle bearings, the seals and anything else that was less than mint, i.e. the plastic skid plate which was trashed. I got all the parts off MRCycles.com and had them FEDEXed to my door... to go to the local dealers would probably cost twice as much plus 13% tax, we Canadians certainly get the shaft....

I must say I was very surprised and happy that I did not have to split open the rear gear case or even remove the axle from the quad. Just remove the brake side wheel collar, the brake calliper assembly, the disc and the axle slides right out. Bearings were a snap to take out with my buddy's slide hammer and everything went back together as easy as could be. I don't have much experience with working on ATVs but I am impressed that the ring gear inside the final drive case rides in it's own bearings completely separate from the axle... maybe all SRA quads are this way.

I thought I was going to be stuck when I read in the manual that I needed 'lithium soap based grease' (never heard of the stuff before) for re-assembly but luckily NAPA carries it so I was set. I'm convinced that Yamaha missed greasing the splines on one side of my axle, the brake side was all rusted hence the excessive play but the other side was as good as new and had lots of grease... if you have one of these it would be a good idea to take the wheel collars off and re-grease the splines with the lithium soap based grease I mentioned above, it's not white lithium grease, it's actually brownish red in color. The castle nuts that hold the collars on go torqued to 110 ft/lbs and there is an o-ring that goes tight against the outside of the seal on the brake side, before the brake disc goes on so be careful as there as it's easy to damage the o-ring when putting the brake disc assembly back on (if the o-ring is not all the way in).

The only other thing I need to do with it for now is check the valve clearances, this should be pretty simple with the shop manual I got off EBay from Midwest Manuals, I will never work on anything again without one.

 

Sounds like you had a bearing on the way out and a bad seal allowing water and dirt to get in there over time, hence the rusty splines.

Glad your back in business

 

Everything inside the bearing/seal was as good as new, the bearing didn't have any play either, whatever it was I hope it doesn't happen again... the money I spend on fixing this was supposed to go to new tires. The OEM tires are bad enough new but with over 5000 km on them they are next to useless.