I overtightened my rear axle bolts!

[620ie]

I feel like the biggest idiot having done this....  Anyway here goes:

I decided to adjust my chain tension on my 03 620ie (dark) yesterday, and found out the hard way that my torque wrench was jacked (it didn't click). I ended up _grossly_ over tightening my rear axle nuts and rode it for a while (30ish miles), then came home undid it, got a new torque wrench and got the bolts torqued to spec. The axle nuts still spin on and off the axle fine when loose (no binding, doesn't feel like the threads were stripped). I also must say that getting the axle nuts loose the first time around, it felt like they were already over tightened.
In any case, the bike seems to roll fine now, but I do feel some rubbing (or very very slight binding) in there. I have the feeling it's actually the rear disc brake rubbing on the pads (the rear disc was definitely warm when i came back home, and I had been using the front brake and the front discs were cold).
So my question is on the rear disc rubbing the pads, is that something that could possibly happen when adjusting the chain tension on a double sided swingarm, or am I more likely left with something potentially more serious like crushed bearings perhaps? I'll take off the rear brake caliper and try to push the pads all the way in and spin the tire on a rear stand to find out I guess, but I wanted to see what you guys generally think of this situation. Would I be better off taking her to a dealer and have the rear axle, nuts and plates replaced? Should I be more worried about the swingarm contact surface potentially having been compromised?

I appreciate any thoughts and advice. Again I feel like poop for having done this to my Monster it was a combo of bad tool and lack of patience but have no one to blame but myself

[Slide Panda]

You could have misaligned things when you over tightened your axle nut.  Just the pressure + twist can cause a little bit of creep on one side. 

Don't jump to conclusions.  While it's possible you did muck something up - there's other more simple causes for dragging pads than a crushed flux capacitor.  Your rubbing pad might have been an existing issue, that you've only noticed because of your extra attention to that area

I had a rear pad hang and ultimately blow up my brake line.  The cause of that was just some crud on the pad pin, that caused it to bind just a little bit. 

So, I'd start with the caliper.  have it off, clean it up, clean that pin, inspect the pads for wear at odd angles, or wear on some sides pad that is in excess of the others etc etc.  On my bad caliper, the pad had dragged in a way that there was plenty of material at the top[ of the pad, but the bottom was worn almost to the metal backing plate.

if you do want to get in there further, you can have the back wheel off an inspect your bearings.  If one's curshed, you should be able to feel the bind and/or see the side plates coming off

[dlearl476]

IMO, you if you didn't strip the threads on the axle, you didn't do anything what would warrant concern.  Especially if you got the bolt back off without a real struggle.  On my Triumph ST, there is NO WAY you can get the rear axle bolt off without an impact driver.  Beast of a different sort, I know, but my point is those little threads would go before anything else.
There is a slight chance you messed up a bearing.  Given how far you rode I doubt it, but I seriously doubt you have to be concerned about a catastrophic failure.  IMO, you'll hear it crying "uncle" long before it would break up and cause an accident. 
Disclaimer:  My advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.   ME, I wouldn't worry about it.  If I WAS worried, I'd remove the caliper and chain and give the wheel/tire a spin.  If the bearing is toast, you'll know it.  It will only turn one or two revolutions.  With no tension, and a good push, it should turn 10 or so revolutions, easy.  Ten years ago, when bearings were, like, $8.95, I'd say replace 'em the next time you have the wheel off.  They're like $30 now.   

Another thing you could do is pull the bearings, remove the seal, and inspect the outer races.  I don't have a good pic, but I'd bet you could find one on the interwebs of a cooked bearing.    Basically the outer race will have lines on it parallel to where the rollers or balls would be, kind of like the sand on a beach after a wave has gone out.  A good bearing will be perfectly smooth, both visually and to touch.  Another thing that happens to bearings is that the "hardened" layer flakes off.  That's pretty self-explanatory when you get it apart.

Good Luck man, but I really think you dodged a bullet.

[620ie]

Thanks guys I really appreciate it!

Now that I'm pretty darn close to getting the chain to spec'ed tension, I'm realizing that my chain is pretty much toast (big difference between tight and loose spots, and some pseudo-frozen links, plus it just looks like it's begging for retirement). At almost 11K miles, I think it's time for a new one anyway and I'm likely gonna swap the rear sprocket as well...

Will I attempt this myself?

stay tuned 

[bigiain]

There is a slight chance you messed up a bearing.

I'm 99.999% sure it'd be impossible to damage a bearing just by overtightening the axle nuts. To damage a bearing you'd have to generate enough force to distort the internal spacer with a purely crush load - the threads will strip _way_ before that happens. No matter how tight you get the axle nuts, the forces are all carried by the adjuster block, spacer on the sprocket side, inner bearing races, the internal spacer in the wheel, the caliper bracket, and the other adjuster block - the ballrace bit of the bearings just "float" on the inner races. Without collapsing the internal spacer you can't put any undue load on the bearings themselves.

The slight drag the OP is seeing is normal disk brake drag. If the disk was warm and you _really_ don't use the rear brakes, I'd be bleeding the brakes first - do you know if the fluids have recently (or ever) been changed? I think Ducati recommend changing it every 12k miles or 2 years. If you haven't hit the 12k service yet you might be running 6 year old fluid in there. It's a really cheap thing to do as part of your problem solving - I'd be bleeding the rear brakes and taking the opportunity to replace the fluid (it's not as though the rear brake system takes much, and you don't really want to be storing the left over fluid, once you crack the seal on the bottle it starts absorbing water from the atmosphere, you should always use new fluid - I'd use fluid that's only a few weeks old, but there's no point keeping 2/3rds of a bottle "for next time")

big

[scott_araujo]

Pull the rear pads and spin the wheel.  If it spins without rubbing then the bearings are fine.  Now see why the pads are rubbing.  Consider this a practice run for the upcoming chain replacement.

Scott

[g-force]

+1 on what everybody is saying. You didn't hurt ANYTHING.

[620ie]

First off wanted to thank everyone for technical and moral support!!! 

I lifted the rear (by myself mind you using pit bull rear stand, it's totally feasable with lots of patience and a good amount of dexterity), removed the rr brake caliper and everything spins super smooth (considering the chain has almost 11K miles, but still smooth).

The pads were indeed dragging on the disc. I pushed the pads in, reinstalled, pumped the brake and spun, noticeably less drag, but still drag!

Re-removed caliper, repushed pistons in, reinstalled, re-pumped brake a couple times until it feels solid, wheel spins drag free!!!

It's a wonderful boost of confidence at the same time 

Many Thanks!!!

edit: Re: Bigiain on bleeding the brakes, it was done around 9K miles or so, about a year ago when I did my last full service. The brakes definitely feel solid (no mushyness), but I'm guessing it couldn't hurt to give that a try sometime soon. Have done it on mtn bikes a couple of times and know it can be a pain in the neck as it starts stripping paint off anything it comes in contact with... I do remember seeing directions for it on Ducatisuite so I'll likely look into it soon.