Special Tool No 57001-1051

Kawasaki Z1300

Special Tool No 57001-1051

The Kawasaki Tool

This has a half inch square hole in the centre to connect to Torque Wrench or other device.

As a result of today’s meddling in the garage, I thought that my output could be of some use or inspiration to other club members.  During last summers riding, I found that there was a small oil leak from the rear axle, which caused a small amount of oil to be flicked over the back wheel from the gap between the back wheel and the crown wheel housing.  I managed to track down a new Lip Seal, but then had to remove the large Ring Nut to gain access to the old Seal.  Kawasaki list a special tool No 57001-1051, but after scanning the interweb, I couldn’t find one.  No doubt one of our erstwhile members has one stashed away, but I didn’t want to wait.

My own agricultural version of the tool was knocked up in about an hour from some 8mm steel plate, with the use of an angle grinder and a MIG Welder.  8mm plate is quite conveniently the width of the slots in the Ring Nut.

I considered making a machined copy of the Kawasaki Tool, but I don’t have ready access to a milling machine!  The following is the ‘Scrap Heap Challenge’ version.

Step 1. Mark out 100mm and 90mm diameter concentric circles on the plate.  Dividers are best as you then know where the centre is.  (You can draw around a mug of tea but you then have to find the centre and get them both concentric).

Step 2.  Mark on the horizontal and vertical centre lines, then parallel lines 4mm either side of the 2 centre lines.

Step 3.  Using the 100mm circle as a guide, cut out the material.  I ended up with an octagon because I used the angle grinder to cut it out.  I wanted to be neater than a square, but the grinder doesn’t cut around curves very well.  The octagon was the best compromise.

Step 4.  Cut out 4 pegs of about 6mm wide and 20mm long.

Step 5.  Cut out the 4 notches at the edges.  This part is worth paying a bit more attention to as these slots have to match up with the slots in the Ring Nut.  Dress the width of the slots so that the pegs are a tight (light hammer) fit in them.

Step 6.  Hammer the Pegs into place and offer the new Tool up to the ring nut to check that it will index into the slots in the Nut.  Some jiggling (technical operation) may be needed.  Some dressing of the pegs may be required, especially if you have used something other than 8mm thick material.  If you’ve used thinner, then less dressing will be required.

Step 7.  Find a large steel nut, the bigger the better amongst your box of old nuts and bolts.  Make sure that you have a socket that fits both it and your torque wrench.  You’ll feel a bit pissed later if you don’t!

Step 8.  Weld the Nut to the centre of the Plate.  I did this first so that I had something to attach the earth lead to in the next step.

Step 9.  Place the tool again into the ring nut, and tack the four pegs into the plate.  Be aware of any spatter that may hit some delicate parts of your machine and protect accordingly.

Step 10.  Remove from machine, and weld pegs in place securely.

Step 11.  Have a beer to celebrate while the welding cools, then use as if it were a factory tool.

I avoided the need to use Tool No 57001-1050 by leaving the whole assembly in the bike and putting it into first gear.

Thanks to Rich for doing this page.