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How to: Remove and re-install wheels (complete beginner's guide)

36K views 30 replies 22 participants last post by  M5James 
#1 ·
Disclaimer: This guide, whilst very detailed, is intended to complement the workshop manual and not replace it. If you are in any doubt as to your abilities to safely carry out work on your machine, get someone to help you or pay a garage to do it for you.

You are ultimately responsible for your own work :)




How to:


Firstly, apologies that this thread is so detailed. My logic being that people familiar with working on bikes aren't really going to need this thread as removing wheels is a pretty much every-day job. It's therefore aimed at people who are relatively new to working on bikes.



Some info:




The bottle jack you see in this thread is a cheapy from Halfords. It's plenty good enough for lifting bikes.





A regular 12 sided socket (above) is what you get in most socket sets. I prefer to use impact sockets (below) which are six-sided and drive on the flats of nuts rather than on the corners. Much less chance of rounding off nuts. If you can only afford one set of sockets, go for 6 sided if possible as they're more versatile







Keeping removed nuts organised means you don't miss anything out and you don't lose anything.







Latex gloves keep all sorts of nasty chemicals and grime off your hands.







However, latex doesn't last long when it comes in contact with petroleum based products such as paraffin or Vaseline. Vinyl is petrol resistant but more sweaty.





Removing the wheels: before you raise the bike off the ground







Use a breaker arm and 36mm socket to loosen off the rear axle nut.







Slacken the front pinch bolts using a six-sided socket. Loosen them right off then remove them, but do them evenly and not one at a time.





Do the same with the front axle nut as with the rear (27mm socket - called a diesel injector socket in Halfords IIRC). You only need to slacken it so it's easier to undo when the bike's off the ground and balancing on stands.





On a TL-R, you can just remove the belly pan to access the sump. On most GSX-R's as I recall, you need to remove the side plastics. You'll need access to the sump when we come to raise the front.



Getting the back wheel out:





Lift the bike on to an Abba stand.







Now we need to undo the torque link nut - it's the one holding the brake caliper to the metal bar below the swingarm.





Counter hold the bolt with a 14mm socket on an extension bar, and loosen the nut with a ratchet and another 14mm socket. Remove the nut and bolt.





Remove the mudguard (only two hex bolts with a couple of washers) to improve access to the chain.





Spin off the nut with a 36mm socket





Note the order of the bits that come off. Nut, Washer, Adjuster block.





Take the weight of the wheel with your feet, so you can push the axle out from the left hand side.





Still supporting the wheel, pull out the axle and support the caliper with your free hand.





Zip tie the caliper to the other side of the swingarm. It keeps it out of the way and avoids straining the brake hose.





Still supporting the wheel, Push the rear wheel as far forwards as you can. This allows you to un-hook the chain from the rear sprocket.





The wheel is now free to be removed from the bike. Do not rest the wheel on the rear disc.





Here you can see the cut in the rear tyre that punctured it. You can thank that for this thread...
 
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#31 ·
Anyone have these pics to reload since Photobucket is screwing everyone? I've got about 20k on my bike, just put on a new rear tire and cleaned every drop off grease I could get my hands on so I could apply new. It's been apart a couple of days and I've forgotten the exact order. I wanna re grease everything but I don't wanna over grease and have it splatter all over the tire after my first ride.
 
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