Rear Wheel Installation Tip

[Bruce J.]

I had  to replace the u joint and the whole project did not go smooth, just one of those bad jobs. The rear wheel installation was also difficult. I've had it off and on many times in 85K miles, but this time, it fit the theme of the project. I simply wasn't able to line it up with the drive; I'm a darksider and that always adds to the difficulty. Finally I realized that lining up the left side of the wheel with the axle hole and sliding the axle in from the left greatly eased the lining up of the drive splines as I could simply slide the wheel to the right rather than holding it up and trying to fit it in place. Once the wheel was mated with the splines, it was easy to remove the axle and slide it in from the right.

Maybe this tip will help someone else in the future.

[bogator]

Don't know what else you did ----all I do is take the shocks off and jack it up on the table and let it down to pull the axel. thanks for the info it will help.

[John Schmidt]

Just curious, how high do you jack the bike up when servicing the rear end?

[bogator]

John, I just go high enough to slide the axle out over the truck stacks. then or, I can't remember if it comes out below or on top, been a while since I've done it, Dag had a video on doing it on here somewhere but I can't find it.I have a Hitchdoc trailer hitch on too.if your table will lock the front wheel it is good to go, hope this helps.

[Brian]

I find having the transmission in gear helps to line up the splines as well as I run the axle through to help aid this task. Also leaving the 4 bolts on the pumpkin loose helps. They need to be loose anyway and tightened at the end.

It is not good on the u-joint to leave it in a bind too long. I have tried doing this rear end task leaving the pipes on. To each their own, but I will at least remove the right side from here on out.

[Cracker Jack]

I find having the transmission in gear helps to line up the splines as well as I run the axle through to help aid this task. Also leaving the 4 bolts on the pumpkin loose helps. They need to be loose anyway and tightened at the end.

It is not good on the u-joint to leave it in a bind too long. I have tried doing this rear end task leaving the pipes on. To each their own, but I will at least remove the right side from here on out.

Brian, how long do you think you could leave the u-joint in a bind without hurting it? How long is too long?

[Brian]

I find having the transmission in gear helps to line up the splines as well as I run the axle through to help aid this task. Also leaving the 4 bolts on the pumpkin loose helps. They need to be loose anyway and tightened at the end.

It is not good on the u-joint to leave it in a bind too long. I have tried doing this rear end task leaving the pipes on. To each their own, but I will at least remove the right side from here on out.

Brian, how long do you think you could leave the u-joint in a bind without hurting it? How long is too long?

I take my time doing my bike maintenance. Maybe I am little to cautious, but I never leave stress on part longer than I have too. I pull the shaft and joint each spring anyway so the stress I leave on the joint is only minimal. There for a while new joints were on back order so why chance it?

[Kye]

I find having the transmission in gear helps to line up the splines as well as I run the axle through to help aid this task. Also leaving the 4 bolts on the pumpkin loose helps. They need to be loose anyway and tightened at the end.

After trying to get my back wheel on for 40 minutes, I finally consulted the VRCC forum and came across this gem. The trouble I had was the three new orings (I got the red ones) were super tight preventing the wheel from pushing all the way home on the splines. In the end I had to use a tire iron on its side between the LHS swing arm and axle spacer to very gently pry the wheel the last 3 or 4mm home.

Pushing the axle all the way thru certainly helped with the alignment.