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Removing the Front Axle

13K views 31 replies 14 participants last post by  LeaderDuece 
#1 ·
First of all, I'm really tired of all the links not working anymore. There is stuff I know I read several months ago that is now gone. When is admin going to fix this stuff? Is it lost forever?

Anyway -I am tired of paying the man 50 extra bucks to remove and reinstall my front tire when I get a new one mounted. So I finally got around to taking it off today. It's just one of those things that I've never done.

So I crank on the axle bolt and nothing happens. not wanting to strip a bolt/nut as has happened this week with another member, I quit. Then upon closer inspection, I see pinch bolts.

So I just want to confirm -If I want to remove the tire and leave the brake discs on etc, all I need to do is:

Remove fork protectors

Loosen pinch bolts (or do I remove them?)

Remove axle bolt from right side

Pull out axle

Drop tire down and remove

Questions -

When I remove axle, other than inspecting it for unusual wear (bearings going out etc) and rolling it to ensure it's still straight, is there anything else I need to check?

Will the brake discs slide easily out of the calipers/pads, or is there anything I should do first?

Do I need to stick something between the pads (piece of wood, screwdriver) so that they don't slowly close together on me, thus making it a pain to reinstall the tire while trying to slide the discs back between the pads?

Is the axle bolt torque 55 ft/lbs?

What's the torque on the pinch bolts?

Blue locktite go anywhere?

Thanks for the help guys. :D
 
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#7 ·
You can just loosen the pinch bolts. just don't pull the lever and the calipers will not close on you. when you pull the bolts to the caliper rock them back and forth a little on the rotor to open them up a little first.axel is torque to 52ftlbs ,pinch bolt 17ftlbs ,calipers 29ftlbs .anti seize on the axel
 
#9 ·
You can just take your 5/8 spark plug socket and turn it backwards, so that the 5/8 wrench part fits inside the axle bolt. Then you take a socket extension and stick it into the spark plug socket from the outside, and use your socket wrench. Easy Peasy. I just didn't know everything else ;)
 
#10 ·
yup, with bike on ground, remove calipers, loosen pinch bolts and front axle, remove fork protectors. Jack bike up, remove front axle and remove front wheel. super simple. One thing I like to do when reinstalling is snug front axle, set it on ground, rock it a few times to compress the suspension, torque axle, compress front suspension a couple more times, then torque pinch bolt. This allows the right fork leg to settle where it wants to normally and not be pulled in by the axle tightening into the left. If the right fork leg is tight on the axle it can get tweaked to the left when the axle is torqued and cause issues with the front suspension action.
 
#15 ·
So, I removed the wheel last night. Took all of 10 minutes. Everyone's tips were right on the money. Went to put it back on, and forgot to hook up the calipers. So of course when I went to push on the front end a couple of times, I squeezed the brake so it wouldn't roll, and immediately realized what I had done. No big deal, I slid a fat screwdriver in there and twisted it a couple of times to open the pads back up.

I checked -and yep a hex handled chisel fits perfectly also. But I liked the idea of using a spark plug socket (backwards) better, because then I could use my torque wrench to properly tighten it.

Thanks for all the help :)
 
#28 ·
All finished, removal and installation was a breeze. Only issue I had was with the honda dealer I brought the tire to, I had them swap my tires about a year and ahalf ago so I knew it would be $40+tax. They tell me it's gonna be $5 extra to throw the tire away which is new to me, so my cheapazz took the tire with me. I get home to find they put stickon wieghts which I hate, last time they used clip ons. So i busted out the dynabeads I bought a few months ago and putting those in the tire was a adventure in itself. My brother in law works for a car dealer and he's disposing of the tire for me. Would it have been illegal for me to cut up the tire and throw it in the trash?
 
#30 · (Edited)
First thing I noticed is that If you spin the tire you can hear them. I was like "what is that scraping sound?" is the tire hitting the fender? then I realized it was the beads rolling around. If it's your first time putting beads in be prepared to spill some in the learning process. I found that a very slow pour and tapping the valve stem with a wrench worked for me as I have no acess to compressed air. I tried using my car tire air compressor but it doesn't have enough force to shoot the beads in.
 
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