Rear Wheel removal issue

Hello FJR experts....

I have an 08, with under 8000 miles on it. Obviously I don't ride it much. It's mostly ridden when riding two up, which was this past weekend.

I'm now coincidentally in need of a rear tire replacement. And in trying to take the wheel off, I can't get the axle out.

Since I have several bikes, and I don't ride this one much, it's been a while since I've had to put a tire on this bike.

All of my bikes are parked in a climate controlled garaged, so it's not like it has sat outside for 10 years. This bike is still in fantastic shape.

One my good friend's that I ride regularly has his own tire mounting and separate digital spin balancing machines.

He was assisting me with this effort and he has changed tires dozens of times over the last 20+ years, which includes my many sport bikes.

Since the FJR is shaft drive, and to help confirm that we weren't overlooking something with the steps etc, I checked YouTube and found a detailed video.

The process of removing the wheel is really straight forward. Yet I cant get the axle to slide out.

The wheel spins freely, but the axle wont move/slide out. It moves about a 1/16 of an inch.

I tried to tap on the axle with a rubble mallet, but it just doesn't want to move. And I'm fearful to smack on it really hard.

Has anyone ran into this ?

Any suggestions ?

Have you loosened the pinch bolt? That is the only thing that would stop the axle moving out.

My normal procedure is to gently support the bottom of the tyre by sliding bit(s) of wood under it to just take some of the weight. Then I loosen the axle nut, undo it something like 1/8 inch. Then slacken the pinch bolt (if it's the first time, I will remove it since I'm going to lubricate the threads).

Now use a mallet on the axle nut (I use a hammer with a piece of wood against the nut 'cos I don't own a mallet), the axle should move relatively easily. When the nut comes up against the swing arm, undo it a bit more, then use the mallet again. Repeat until there are only a few threads of the nut left. Remove the nut, drift the axle with the mallet until flush with the swingers, finally use a screwdriver against the axle and use the mallet on the screwdriver.

Usually comes out without too much effort; taking the weight off the axle with that slid-under wood does make it easier to drift the axle out.

Did you back off the pinch bolt?

(You beat me to it)

Canadian FJR

Did you also remove the bolt from the front of the brake arm? If you didn't, that will cause a bind. That and the axle pinch bolt as mentioned above will keep the axle from moving.

Because it's never been removed, cleaned and greased,

It's likely corrosion has occurred between the axel and

the spacer at the center of the wheel.

I would use a wooden dowel rod ( not metal ) and a hammer

to break through the corrosion and force the axel out.

Absolute worst case scenario: the bearing pops out of the

wheel. In which case, just replace with a new one.

Be sure to clean up the axel and spacer before reassembly.

Corrosion if axle is installed dry it will form, I will suggest brass drift and penetrating oil and iron hammer good luck, yes I have to deal with this since Yamaha install the axle dry first time removing was a bitch.

Thanks everyone.

I loosened the pinch bolt. And eventualy removed it and then carefully widened the gap of the pinch grove as to ensure that it was not binding there.

And yes - I removed the bolts from the caliper arm...as the first step.

This thing is STUCK.

I'm a little bigger than you average guy, and I have a tendency to be a little too aggressive with things, in which I've learned the hard way many times because of this.

So, I'm hesitant to whack on the axle too much, for fear of breaking something. I did spin the axle nut back on a good amount, before hitting it with a rubber mallet.

It slides a very little amount, and then it seems to bind. It's weird and definitely has me scratching the side of my head.

You could try shooting some penetrating oil in it. It's quite possible with never having been removed there is corrosion. I always apply a coating of a marine grade waterproof bearing grease to the axle every time it's out.

Just give it a few good whacks...what could go wrong?

I run into this all the time on all kinds of bikes. A hardwood dowel or brass drift are the best bet. I had one occasion on an old BMW that I took it out with a saws-all but that bike spent a lot of time on the beach. Once it's out clean it good and install with antisieze or waterproof grease .

If it is corroded, a pneumatic/impact hammer can break it free.

Swingarm pivot on my '07 FZ1 was frozen and I could not budge it with anything I had on-hand. A friend told me about the hammer, and let me borrow one. With really very little pressure, it broke free in seconds.

This was a steel rod thru the Alu frame - and no grease from factory.

Post up results.

Canadian FJR

You are slightly lifting the wheel to relieve pressure? Right? Use your toes to take the pressure off the axle. Then, if the axle doesn't move, hit it hard. It shouldn't break, especially with a rubber mallet, or a piece of wood between a steel hammer and the bolt.

Gotta love it. Percussive motorcycle maintenance. Sometimes the BFH approach works the best. (Big Fuckin Hammer)

I'd get a 14 mm hex bit and rotate the axle back and forth from the right end while someone taps the left end with a hammer.

You can use the 14 mm end of the sheet metal spark plug wrench included in the FJR tool pouch.

A little rotation of the axle should do the trick. This should help get a bit of penetrating oil to flow in around the threaded end of the axle.

Nothing here, pretty much all scenario's covered. Just installed new tires on my 08. Only difference is mine came right out. Well greased every time it goes back in. No need to try and pry open the gap on the pinch bolts. That's asking for trouble.

Dave

Harbor Freight has a cheap set of bigger size allen sockets that includes a 14mm. Put that on a good size socket wrench and try rotating while tapping with the hammer to see if it will break loose. I'd feel better about putting some serious force into trying to twist the axle vs pounding the shit out of the axle putting a lateral load through the frame and swingarm. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

A rubber mallet won't do the trick, you need something solid like a block of wood or brass/copper drift as others have mentioned. Also, it might help to back up the swing arm right next to the axle with a 3-5 pound sledge hammer. Place a bit of duct tape on the swing arm so it won't scratch it. Otherwise, if the axle is really stuck (which it sounds like it is), the swing arm will flex slightly absorbing the impacts from the nut side of the axle.

Dan

bergmen said:

A rubber mallet won't do the trick, you need something solid like a block of wood or brass/copper drift as others have mentioned. Also, it might help to back up the swing arm right next to the axle with a 3-5 pound sledge hammer. Place a bit of duct tape on the swing arm so it won't scratch it. Otherwise, if the axle is really stuck (which it sounds like it is), the swing arm will flex slightly absorbing the impacts from the nut side of the axle.
Dan

Click to expand...

This ^^ was going to be my comment, too. Rubber mallet bad, wood/brass and BFH good. Yrs ago I purchased a leather mallet for things just like this. I can't imagine it being stuck in the swing arm, there's not much to stick to. I'd try penetrating oil and see if I can get it to rotate, then it's likely stuck in the wheel.