Received the OEM sprocket and chain kit from Kawasaki. Have almost 15K miles on Z900. No problems swapping chain and rear sprocket. Attempted to remove front sprocket: the nut (27 mm) was frozen! Yes, I did bend the spline washer leaf back from nut. Tried setting torque ratchet wrench to max 250 ft/lbs--no good. Used 1.5 foot pipe on 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar. Nope. Tried heating nut with wife's hair dryer. Nope.
Wondered if high strength thread lock used on shaft threads or if nut is left hand threaded. No to either option. Left front sprocket on for now. Who ever torqued this nut used WAY too much force! Noticed other entries on various forums complain of a number of Kawasaki models (like the Ninja 400) have similar problem.
Ordered new nut and checked threads: right hand threaded. Kawasaki lists nut as 20mm--the shaft is 20 mm threaded with 1.5 mm pitch. Hex nut size is 27 mm. Factory manual says 108 ft/lbs (147 nM) is correct fastening torque. No thread lock called for. Took bike to work and used a heat gun to heat nut. Then used a 650 ft/lb pneumatic impact wrench to loosen nut. Got it off easily and installed new nut and spline washer @ 108 ft/lbs torque.
Was wondering if any other Z900 owners had similar problem getting front sprocket off?
