I need some help with torque settings on my DT400. The units of torque in the DT250B/400B service manual are really confusing (to me!). I'm not 100% sure I'm getting the conversion correct. I would be grateful if one of you good people could confirm that I'm doing this correctly....
eg Front axle nut torque = 10 to 12 m-kg.
 
 

So, taking the mid value and sticking it into an online converter, I get 108Nm. Is that correct? It seems very high???

is there a document where al the torque values are listed with more recognised/modern units?

Many thanks.....

I'm no use as just swing on it big time so probably all of what google converts 10 mkg to which is 72 ftlb's. Just talking a typical Yamy front axle RT2 etc. Can't come to much harm tightening the axle super tight. Mind you i can blow that theory, on my 1980 yz125g in 1981 i had tightened the rear axle so tight for so long--so many times--over the year that the floating rear brake sleeve got swollen & landed from a jump so suspension went down & only came half way back up. was scratching head between races until i loosened the axle. Only mentioning 'that' incase overtightening affects the speedo drive gear rotation but highly doubt it--they do rust up & stop turning though. Someone will be along soon with some 'sensible" info. Cheers from NZ.

found the value on an xs650 front axle just googling on a random forum & they say 76 ftlb's but not sure if axles the same diameter.

Reading through text almost always has torque specs in in-lb or ft-lbs.  (Divide in-lbs by 12 to get ft-lb)

The difference between a kg-m and a N-m is simply the acceleration force of gravity which is about 9.8m/s^2
.So multiply kg-m by 9.8 (roughly 10) to get N-m.  Not too hard.

The bigger concern is Yamaha specs are often wrong...  so it pays to use common sense and check other similar model specs if something doesn't look or sound right...

In this case, it's about 80 ft-lb which is about right...  most people just make it "tight".  Also, axle can be inserted from either side but should always be inserted so that axle nuts are on the left side of the bike. 

Mark - there must be a reason for axle nuts on left, could you share?
Just curious 
thanks!

With wheel spinning forward any drag on axle will be in the "tighten nut" direction if axle inserted from right to left wth nut on left.
If you insert axle from left to right, tendency would be to loosen nut.
If you're using cotter pins or fork lowers clamp axle, it's arguably not that important...  but if ever axle came a little loose and no cotter pin, having the nut on the left could make the difference between loosing the axle/wheel (and likely a big crash) and being okay.

Same dilema as me!

Just gone through this myself - i did my axels to 110Nm