Can anyone tell me how critical it is to get the rear axel to the right torque? I put a set of chrome rear axel covers on and realized that I havn't got a torque wrench to tighten the axel.  So the amount of pressure it took to loosen I did roughly the same amount to tighten. (I have a 2011 heritage)

If they are anything like the 07 they are set to 60ftLbs, If you do them up any tighter than that you run the risk of crushing your wheel bearings. Any looser and they may come undone and you end up wearing your axle shaft

Mine was done too tight after a tyre replacement ( by the HD dealer !!) WITH A SPACER MISALINGNED !!

900K's later the rear wheel bearings failed catastrophically.

No liability admitted to me, but I jusT paid fro the new bearings and they were "installed free" as a goodwill gesture

Still cost me 2 return trips to the dealer , and 60 bucks or whatever for the bearings.

My argument was . shouldn't have happened in the first place !

Yes the torque spec is critical I would say . I watched them do it on bearing replacement , THE "MECHANIC" WAS PISSED OFF !

"What do you know ?" he says to me sarcastically . "Quite a fucking lot actually" was my measured reply...

Other than tyres I do everything myself ,

"I WONDER WHY ??"

If possible (exhaust permitting) it is a good idea to feed the axle threw from the right side of bike,
so if the nut is slightly loose & the axle turns it will not be un-doing the nut,

Did that make sence ?

Sounds about right mate.

Tha bassas musta horsed my 2008 to 105 ft/lb when they did the tyre the first time

Even on the 2nd try after the new bearings I cam home and loosened the axle again and did my own torquing

I have also got my axle "reversed" so you don't need to take a muffler off every time, ie axle head not at the muffler end.

The dealer mechanic didn't like that either I may say. I've been doing that to my bikes for 15 years !!

And yeah I know I spelt axle wrong. The older I get the worse it gets.