there is a bolt on the END of the axle.. Once you tighten the pinch bolts on the opposite side of the bolt, you can tighten said bolt, without the axle moving. then there are 4 pinch bolts. DO NOT apply 91nm to the pinch bolts.

 

Lol, no not the pinch bolts! Those are like 20 or so. I'm talking about the bolt on the end of the axle.
That's what the FSM calls for 21. Unless the lines in it are drawn wrong. Wish I could get a screenshot but I'm mobile.
So slam the axle through, tighten right side pinch bolts to 21, tighten axle bolt to 90, torque left side pinch bolts.
I'm no noob to bikes, just Yamaha.

 

i like to mildly tighten the axle bolt first to pull it through, before anything.. then spin the front wheel fast and slam the front brake a few times. This centers the fork fists on the axle. then do the rest..

 

What does the centering accomplish? (Serious question)

I always just put axle in, spin bolt on until snug, then hand tighten pinch bolts in a random order until snug, then torque bolt. Everything is safety wired and nothing has fallen off (yet )

 

The 2007 manual says 91 Nm (66 ft-lb) on the axle bolt, then the left (the bike's left) side pinch bolts to 21 Nm (15 ft-lb) in the order of inner-outer-inner. Then check that the axle is flush on the right (the bike's right) and tighten the right (the bike's right) pinch bolts to 15ft-lb in the same order: inner-outer-inner.

That is usually the same order I use.

 

I kinda figured out what Yamaha was telling you to do. They want you to tighten the axle to the bolt. The bolt being stationary and backed up with a wrench as you tighten the axle to it. This draws the axle through both forks. Never posted a photo of why it didn't make sense to me. I was wrong in that the bolt had no torque value for it. Only the axle did. Hope this may help someone out in the future.

 

I think it doesn't matter either way. It is accomplishing the same goal with minimal differences.

When I saw your post I began to think they wanted to you to tighten the axle and not the bolt for a specific reason. That may be because when you tighten the bolt, you are also fighting against the friction on the mating surface of the fork stanchion and the bolt head. When you tighten the axle, the bearings can spin and since there are multiple mating sufaces that can spin, and all should have grease, there is likely to be less friction. In other words: you'll get it tighter by just torquing the axle instead of the bolt. The difference is probably very minimal.

But here is the page out of the 2007 manual. The wording seems more like they want you to torque the bolt. Additionally they have you grease that mating surface, reducing the friction. Makes me think that yamaha really doesn't care which way you do it.

 

good call.. would need one of the large hex head attachments to insert into the end of the axle.

 

See, the way that is worded makes sense. My manual...not so much. Some days being an engineer is a curse. I over think things.

Yep, like the Motion Pro widget. The end game is to ensure that the fork sandwiches the spacers to the bearings and prevents them from spinning on the outer race.
The way we do it, snugging the axle up before tightening the right side pinch bolts, effectively does the same thing and we only need one wrench.