Rear Wheel Removal

[jcoukos]

Full tourette syndrome taking the rear wheel off.   The driven flange got hung up with the spacer.
Have to take the exhaust off, rear fender off, foot peg, jack it up....  On the GL1800 I've leaned mine over
on a piece of carpet, undid five bolts and the wheel comes right off. 

Just picked up this used bike, needed a rear tire and some pads.  I'll get it right, but I might need to resupply
my four letter words.

JC

[CASABROKER]

undo the shocks and drop the wheel down

[Dag]

This is how we do it:

Rear Wheel Removal	powered by Aeva

[Chrisj CMA]

Full tourette syndrome taking the rear wheel off.   The driven flange got hung up with the spacer.
Have to take the exhaust off, rear fender off, foot peg, jack it up....  On the GL1800 I've leaned mine over
on a piece of carpet, undid five bolts and the wheel comes right off.  

Just picked up this used bike, needed a rear tire and some pads.  I'll get it right, but I might need to resupply
my four letter words.

JC

Dont forget the proper sequence for re-install.....loosen the 4 bolts holding the final drive to the swing arm and remove the right shock from the final drive before you torque the axle and then retorque the 4 right after torquing the axle....the rest doesnt really matter as to sequence

[jcoukos]

Thanks for the tip.

JC

[Ricky-D]

If you do disconnect the shocks to let the swingarm free you must be careful with regard to the u-joint.

If the swingarm is allow to fall freely, the u-joint bears the brunt of the fall, and the bearing caps within the u-joint will break at the edges, severely shortening the life expectancy of the joint itself.

***

[jcoukos]

Wondering how I'm going to get my torque the 4 bolts holding the swing arm after the wheel is on?
Not a lot of room to operate.

Full tourette syndrome taking the rear wheel off.   The driven flange got hung up with the spacer.
Have to take the exhaust off, rear fender off, foot peg, jack it up....  On the GL1800 I've leaned mine over
on a piece of carpet, undid five bolts and the wheel comes right off.  

Just picked up this used bike, needed a rear tire and some pads.  I'll get it right, but I might need to resupply
my four letter words.

JC

Dont forget the proper sequence for re-install.....loosen the 4 bolts holding the final drive to the swing arm and remove the right shock from the final drive before you torque the axle and then retorque the 4 right after torquing the axle....the rest doesnt really matter as to sequence

[quexpress]

Wondering how I'm going to get my torque the 4 bolts holding the swing arm after the wheel is on?
Not a lot of room to operate.

I agree! 
I have torqued mine for a few years ... then decided to use a regular "combination wrench".... and tighten each one of them "as I thought they should be".



I have been doing these 4 bolts this way for at least the past 5 years.

Note: I'm not suggesting that you do it that way ... just explaining how I do it. 

[Hoser]

I use my "butt torque wrench" It consists off as tight as I can get it with a 9 inch box wrench.   hoser

[art]

That is how I've been doing it for years.Just use a standard length box wrench an give it an educated guess for the size of nut an screw.If you hurt your hand doing that it is too tight

[jcoukos]

Should I dab some red lock tight on the 4 bolts on the final drive for safety?

This is how we do it:

Rear Wheel Removal

[salty1]

Not necessary to use the lock tight IMHO. 

[BigBod]

Could someone tell my why you have to loosen the 4 bolts?? I never knew this and didn't do it. I didn't have any prolems putting the wheel back in....

[Valkpilot]

Could someone tell my why you have to loosen the 4 bolts?? I never knew this and didn't do it. I didn't have any prolems putting the wheel back in....

It allows the drive splines in the pumpkin to self-align with the driven splines in the hub of the wheel.  Once the axle bolt is in and tightened, this alignment is fixed.

[Chrisj CMA]

Could someone tell my why you have to loosen the 4 bolts?? I never knew this and didn't do it. I didn't have any prolems putting the wheel back in....

You shouldnt have any problems getting the wheel on, but you wont know if the alignment (splines) is good until its too late.  Chances are if the alignment was ok before you took the wheel off and you didnt have to use a lot of force working it on or off then you didnt change the good alignment, but you wont know until its too late, slightly off alignment chewes up the splines very fast.  Plus if you never remove the 4 bolts then its really hard to inspect and lube the drive shaft.  The pinion cup being the most critical gets lubed on mine at every tire change

[RonW]

Wondering how I'm going to get my torque the 4 bolts holding the swing arm after the wheel is on?
Not a lot of room to operate.

I've been using olde fashion witness marks to line up (torque) the bolts. Don't have pics of the "4 bolts" but something like the pics below. I do follow up with a torque wrench wherever possible. With the 4 bolts though, I suggest you line up the felt pen marks as straight as possible, with a 47 ft-lbs torque value, cranking the bolt to the other side of the line may amount to 5 to 10 ft-lbs difference. Just guessing on that but better to keep on the safe side.