I posted this in another forum before I found this site...here's my origional post.

I've got (well, actually it's for my cousin who's in Iraq) a 1985 Yamaha Maxim XJ700 that I'm having some problems with. This is a shaft driven bike and I can seem to get the rear wheel removed. I've removed the axel nut, brake linkage, and some bar that connects to the brake housing.

I go to slide the axel out, but for some reason it appears to be affixed to the brake housing, preventing it from sliding out entirely. I've got the wheel sepearted from the shaft drive gears. Also, if I spin the axel, the brake housing spins with it. I can't find a way to free the brake housing from the axel.

Any suggestions would be greatly appricated.

TIA.

Did you loosen the pinch bolt on the brake-side swingarm, where the axle goes through it? Otherwise, it might just be rusted into place inside the wheel. You could tap it through using a brass drift . I'd put the axle nut back on it, flush with the end of the axle, and tap flat against that to prevent mushrooming the threads. There should be no mechanical reason why the axle doesn't slide through.

Yep, loosened the pinch bolt. I did place a board against the end of the axel bolt and hit it with a hammer, but no joy. The axel and the brake housing are still connected. Someone suggested taking a blow torch to it to heat it up to maybe loosen the brake housing and the axel...but I'm was hoping I'd find another suggestion that might help :(

Idea behind the blow torch is to heat (expand) the brake housing, not the axle.
Remamber the brake housing is aluminium and melts easily with too much heat.

I would do this as a last resort. I would personally belt hell out of the axle as a second hand one is a cheaper replacement than the brake housing.

Try a penetrating lubricant sprayed all around the axle. Leave it for a day to penetrate giving it a fresh squirt a couple of hours later.

Try tapping the axle in both directions to free it up.

A brass drift will give better results than a block of wood.
If you don't have one then try a steel punch in the centre of the axle being careful not to damage the threads.

Looks like I'll be buying a steel punch tonight. I was going to try heating the brake housing with a heat gun as a last resort. I think if I keep the heat under 400 degrees I should be okay.

BTW - does anyone know where I can get a axel nut? My dad had a great idea and ended up messing up the threads on the nut and now I need a new one.

Thanks.

I had this same problem when my rear brake was too tight and it fused the axle/washer /shaft together. I had to heat the whole thing up and destroyed the axle to get it free.

Try what you can, but you will need to heat it up and try not to destroy the axle.