Castle Nut Won't Line Up?

[Andrew_NZ]

Hi, I recently replaced a worn idler arm on my 1994 KZN130 Surf with a new aftermarket one. No problems until I tried to tighten the new castle nut supplied with the new idler. I couldn't tighten it enough to reveal the hole for the cotter pin. I took it back off and tried the old nut (which had a larger outside size than the aftermarket one) which also wouldn't wind up enough. I took it off and put the new one back on and over tightened it and stripped the thread on the nut (I know what an idiot right...). So I've cracked the nut off, and put the original castle nut on and tightened it but I can't get the cotter pin in. I'm pretty sure I've seated the idler arm as far as it can go through the center link. The new arm looked pretty identical to the one that came off (but I haven't checked that the hole for the cotter pin is in the same place, I should check that...). Any advice on the best course of action? How important is the cotter pin, can I just check regularly that the nut is tight...? Cheers for your help.

[ThatGuy]

Could you not replace the castle nut with a nylock one? And just get fid of the castle nut

[Tankerman]

Castle nut!

You could file/grind a small amount from the bottom surface of the castle nut so that it tightened enough to line the holes up. Not a good idea to run without some form of locking system in place!

[ThatGuy]

Hence my thought on using a nylock if you use that it's not going to loosen itself off so you won't need a split pin through it

[NiftyNev]

............can I just check regularly that the nut is tight...? Cheers for your help.

Sure you will. I bet you'll check a few times, then when it seems ok, never check again. Try another nut or check the taper is the same as original and hole is correctly positioned. In other words fix it properly. They are designed to take the proper nut, not a nylock.

Nev.

[Andrew_NZ]

Thanks for the advice guys.