rear wheel removal

[scooter]

Is it possible to not remove the exhaust when removing the rear wheel?  I have Cobra six by six exhaust.
If the shocks are removed, can the wheel be pushed up far enough to be able to clear the the removal of the axle?  Thanks.

[roboto65]

I think if you remove the shocks it will drop down enough to get to the bolts I have not done it yet but lots of reading preparing will be doing mine soon !!!

[CajunRider]

Remove the bottom bolt that holds the shock to the swingarm.  Then, lift the bike (some sort of floor jack helps here) about 10-15 inches.  The rear wheel will drop low enough to remove the axle without removing the pipes. 

Also, with the bike lifted this way, you will be able to remove the wheel without moving the rear fender. 

[Grandpot]

On my I/S I have to remove the nuts on the rear exhaust hangers, then I put a wooden wedge between the frame and exhaust to spread the exhaust out just far enough to allow the swing arm to drop down without rubbing.  I have the stock exhaust on my bike.

[Chrisj CMA]

You should unbolt the rear of the cobras but you wont need the wooden block like the factory pipes....The cobras will just swing out on their own.  But if you dont the bolts for the pipes will sratch the swing arm as it goes by

[John Schmidt]

To me, it's safer and easier to remove the shocks and the back half of the rear fender. Before removing the shocks, jack the bike up just enough to raise the rear wheel off the ground just 2-3". Get a small floor jack and put it under the swingarm and raise it enough to take the pressure off the shocks so you can remove the bottom bolt. I actually take them all the way off, one less thing to get in the way. Removing the back of the fender involves only three bolts and allows you to simply roll the wheel ass'y. out. With the shocks removed(I also remove the saddlebags so I can clean everything at least once a year), use the floor jack to raise the swingarm enough to let the axle clear the top of the pipes. I always put some jackstands under the engine guards up front so the bike won't tip forward with the wheel gone. Plus, it makes the bike much more stable. I've had the experience of raising the bike at least 15" to remove the rear wheel, did it once, never again. It just isn't necessary. If you're fortunate enough to have a centerstand installed, that's all you need, don't even need to raise the bike....just the swingarm. Only time I've used the lift is to pull the front wheel since I got the centerstand about four years ago.

[PSUbag]

I have Cobras and I don't touch the fender or the pipes. Like was said earlier, just unbolt the shocks at the bottoms, and jack the bike up. Plenty of room.

[woefman]

I like the Shock Removal Idea. I even watched a Video on it , I think Dag made it.

My Concern is if over time that the Aluminum Housing will Weaken form many tires being removed.

I told my buddy about this trick and he had me look at his Valk. He said you see them bolts that go into
the rear end ?  He said I doubt they can be the best of threads for a long period of time of removing wheels.

I dunno , I still like the rear shock removal rather then fart around with exhaust, and poss exhaust leaks later.

[DFragn]

I like the Shock Removal Idea. I even watched a Video on it , I think Dag made it.

My Concern is if over time that the Aluminum Housing will Weaken form many tires being removed.

I told my buddy about this trick and he had me look at his Valk. He said you see them bolts that go into
the rear end ?  He said I doubt they can be the best of threads for a long period of time of removing wheels.

I dunno , I still like the rear shock removal rather then fart around with exhaust, and poss exhaust leaks later.

I assume your talking about the 4 rear drive unit bolts at the shaft? As long as they are not consistently over torqued they should be fine.
Even if the threads in the rear drive did garf up they could either be cleaned up with a tap or drilled to the next larger size and re-tapped, there's plenty of room for the next increment larger. It's unlikely the unit would need to be replaced.

[kepi]

This is a very valuable thread. The owners manual says yank the ehaust. Ouch! The VRCC Tech talk has you dropping, but not removing. Still ouch! That's what I've been doing. There should be a note about the shock mehod on the tech talk before you start on those header bolts! My only problem, when I replaced my shocks, the after market ( Progressive )  shocks were a bear to fit on the bottom. I had to install bottom first. Can you lower the swing by undoing the tops and leaving the shocks connected to the swing?

[Dag]

Here is the video I made: http://www.valkyrienorway.com/RWRemoval.html

Rear Wheel Removal

[Baloo]

I assume your talking about the 4 rear drive unit bolts at the shaft? As long as they are not consistently over torqued they should be fine.

DFragn,

I beleive he's talking about the threaded hole in the rear drive where the lower RH shock bolt screws in. Personally, I use the shock method, but I always use my torque wrench at reassembly. It avoids overtorquing and thread damages. So far, so good...

[ValkyrieRider]

How about with a belly tank? Do you stii have to remove the exhaust pipes? Or can you get the rear wheel off by raising the swing arm after removing the shocks? I am sure you'd have to remove the lower part of the fender.

[Daniel Meyer]

How about with a belly tank? Do you stii have to remove the exhaust pipes? Or can you get the rear wheel off by raising the swing arm after removing the shocks? I am sure you'd have to remove the lower part of the fender.

Yes, this is the way I remove my wheel. You don't have to remove the rear fender segment if you jack the bike way up in the air...but I have/use a center stand for my tire changes.

[98 T]

I have a belly tank and I use 2 door-stopper wedges under the front part of the tank.  That Belly tank is engineered strong and you can lift the bike from it.  There is a little wobble because of the door stoppers, but after the bike is jacked to the height I want, I strap it down to the jack frame and use a couple jack stands  as insurance.

One time we took off the exhaust, but it's way easier to drop the swing arm down by removing the shock bolts. Don't have to remove the rear fender section either if you jack it high enough.. I think it saves some tmie.

Loth

[f6john]

I always remove the top shock bolts and pull the shocks off the stud. I have never removed or loosened the exhaust. More than one way to skin a cat! 

[franco6]

pulled the exhaust out as the manual said ,no big deal, gave me achance to polish them good .the left side does not get its due
also noticed most exhaust nuts where loose! (7lbs torqued) used the same gaskets. 3ooo miles later she s still fine 

[woefman]

I assume your talking about the 4 rear drive unit bolts at the shaft? As long as they are not consistently over torqued they should be fine.

DFragn,

I beleive he's talking about the threaded hole in the rear drive where the lower RH shock bolt screws in. Personally, I use the shock method, but I always use my torque wrench at reassembly. It avoids overtorquing and thread damages. So far, so good...

Yes Sir ....

Hey I like the Shock Removal Way , don't get me wrong. I suspect as time goes on one will post a Uh Ohh post, saying hey my threads went South .

[F6CTrider]

pulled the exhaust out as the manual said ,no big deal, gave me achance to polish them good .the left side does not get its due
also noticed most exhaust nuts where loose! (7lbs torqued) used the same gaskets. 3ooo miles later she s still fine 

I also pulled both exhausts for some special cleaning and polishing and to take care of issues from previous owners.  I had 5 header posts with bad threads and some nasty looking nuts.  There were a few moments of panic, the posts were siezed up pretty hard.  I went ahead and replaced the gaskets too while I was in there. 
I will likely try it the other way next time, but pulling the exhausts was really not that complex at all if you see a need to go for the gaskets and such.

[Ricky-D]

The only thing I want to add is:

Be careful with an unrestrained swing arm dropping down too low.

It is possible to damage the u-joint.

***

[chip]

  I would like to add , thanks Dag I have spent a lot of wasted time under my cyl. heads during several tire changes. Now I know better. OH , and thanks for letting me ride with you through europe thanks to your Youtube videos ! nice job.

[AussieValk]

to save starting a new thread, i'm pulling the rear wheel right now but can't get it to come off with the final drive flange assembly attached. I've followed the book, and checked the video, but how can I get that assembly out? Is it ok to lever out of the pumpkin or will that damage something? I've tried with the bike in gear and gently rocking the wheel front to back but no luck. I really am stuck with this one.......can anybody advise me.
thanks

[stude31]

Aussie,

The pumpkin has a plastic ring that has a slot on the bottom side.  If you lay on your back and look up under you will see it.  You need to make sure the wheel is back in the correct position before you took it out (no gap between the wheel and the black plastic ring), get a flat screwdriver and stick it up in the whole and make sure that the screwdriver is angled so that when it goes inside that you are making the tip go towards the pumpkin.  You are wanting to get behind the flange and as you pry the flange toward the wheel it should slide off with the wheel.  I hope this makes sense to you.  If you want you can take a flashlight and shine it up in the hole that is in that plastic ring and you might be able to see the flange that you need to pry out.  That could help you understand this procedure.   Keep us posted...

Stude31

[AussieValk]

Thanks Stude31. Did exactly as you described and worked fine. I've watched plenty of times at the shop when they took the wheel off but this is the first time doing it myself. Must remember that for next time.

Cheers.

[stude31]

Your welcome buddy 

Since you have the wheel off don't forget to check the dampners in the wheel.  If you have a lot of "slop" or movement when you move the dampners around you should replace them.  How many miles are on your bike.  You should also consider removing the four nuts on your swing arm and take the final drive (pumpkin) off the bike and inspect the splines on the driveshaft.  It takes a solid tug to seperate the shaft from the final drive but you can do it!  Also, this is a good time while you have the pumpkin off to drain the final drive oil and replace the oil.  The shiney chrome piece on the pumpkin is a vent.  Don't try and turn it to take it off leave it alone and only remove the two screws on the side of the pumpkin and drain it.  There is a write up in shoptalk I believe on how to drain the final drive.  But, having the pumpkin off the bike makes it easy to drain it.  This is also a good time to really clean the splines that flange slides onto and you can check the condition of the splines as well.  Don't forget the three o-rings...  I do not know how much you know to do on the rear wheel change so if you have questions let us know...  Good luck!

Stude31

[AussieValk]

I'm sort of making it up as I go along....no, not really, I've read up on it a fair bit and with the help of the manual and shoptalk I reckon I'll be ok. Splines on the flange assembly are good as they've been greased every 8000 klms when I've had the tyre changed (I look over the tyre blokes shoulder and remind him everytime). Dampners will be checked and most probably replaced. I tried to remove the pumpkin but the four nuts are extremely tight, in fact I doubt they've ever been off, so I'll keep working on that one. She's just done 100 000 klms so my plan was to strip down the back end and give everything a good check, new CT, new truck stacks, and replace all the strange sized nuts and bolts that others have added with shiny new ones. You can expect to see many more questions...

Thanks again.

[kepi]

When you pull the wheel and the pins pull out of the dampers, that's a sure sign the dampers are shot. With good dampers the whole spline assembly should pull out with the wheel. Been there, Done that.