Clutch basket center nut question

[Trekker]

Hey y'all,
I'm new here with a simple question to a potentialy costly problem.
I have a 1987 FLT Tour Glide that is making a buzzing noise in the primary case. I linked it to the center nut on the clutch basket not having the 10ft/lbs of torque. I had to brace the rear wheel to keep the wrench from turning the motor yet when attempting to re-torque it, I found that the shaft the nut is on seemed to just spin. I assume it's a right hand thread, so when turning it to the left to losen it, the nut stayed, but the shaft wanted to come out.
Is the shaft broken or stripped, or is this normal? The nut didn't seem to get tighter either way, so I fear that I stripped the shaft & will have to remove the transmission to fix it.
Being this is my first Big Twin, I'm naive about what's normal & what's not. Any help or advise would be great before I go any further.
Thanks,
Ross.

[FLHTP]

Are you sure it was in gear???

[Mongo38]

Ditto, that shaft runs all the way through your tranny, it definitly should not spin unless it was out of gear, and yes I believe the thread runs backwards(counter clockwise to tighten) would have to look at the manual to be sure, memory aint what it use to be, I've got an 88 I've been into several times.

[flstc]

Yes the thread is counter clockwise on the clutch basket. Put a block in the primary chain at the front sprocket to keep it from turning

[Trekker]

Thanks for all the help. The center shaft is the push rod adjuster, & the nut is just to keep the shaft in place. (It's what you tighten when doing a clutch adjustment).
I had stripped the threads on the pressure plate by not reading my torque wrench right (Yeah, I know, dummy!), so a new plate is $19.00. A cheap price for a stupid mistake (Live & learn).
I don't know if this will stop the squeeling in the primary case, but I'll let y'all know what happens.
Thanks again,
Trekker.

[harv53013a]

Just a quick note,also check the 4 bolts that hold the adjuster tight.I bought a tour glide that broke down on the 100 anniversy(owner found a big oil puddle under it while warming up.Put it away and took his wifes bike.)After fixing the oil leak(rebuilt the top end) I put on about 750 miles when the trans (or primary)starting to make noise and could not down shift to a stop.Finished way home(1/2 mile) and tore the cover off and found one of the bolts had backed out. Tightened the bolt to spec and closed it up.After about 50 miles it happened again but now it was 2 bolts.Tightened them up and tryed 1 more time and the same thing happened again but now 1 of the bolts had almost broken in half by the shoulder.I bought new bolts and was in the process of changing them when I found that the shoulders on the inner hub had broken off.Now will have to replace that.Do yourself a favor and check that the bolts are locktited(purple)and properly torqued down.I don't know if the old owner had known this or not or if old age is catching up(65,000 miles).Just don't want anyone to get left on the side of the road.