Tire change

Can anyone give me a general Idea of how to remove my wheels so I can change my tires. I'm not so sure what to take off. Dont want to take off parts I didn't have to. I already ordered my XJCD but my tires are cracked and I can wait that long before I change them. I went out yesterday and bought new ones. I just want to put them in now! I'm sure not paying a shop to do it!

 

Your wheels are cracked? How did they get like that?

Anyway to remove the front if memory serves:

Remove cotter pin from castle nut.

Lossen castle nut

loosen pinch bolt

remove castle nut

push axle through wheel and out

Watch for spacers that fall off.

Rear wheel:

remove brake link or arm from drum cover

remove cotter pin from castle nut

loosen castle nut

loosen pinch bolt

slide axle out

lift wheel off of final drive

remove brake drum (should lift out of wheel) and check rear shoes for delamination. Replace if needed.

I'll get torque specs when I'm near my shop manual for reinstallation and post them. They're on this site if you search though.

 

Sorry I meant my tires are cracked. Thanks for the info though. Thats exactly what I needed to hear.

 

there are a few things i learned removing and installing tires, some of them may seem obvious but can be easily overlooked.

it is much easier to change tires when they are warm.

you can break the bead with a clamp.

get at least 2 of those vinyl rim protectors and use them when prying the tires on and off, you will be glad you did, especially if you tried to do it without them already! :evil:

the old tire needs to be centered in the rim so you have slack to pry it off. i set the rim flat on a couple 2x4s (so the rotor/bearings/splines are off the ground) and use my knees to keep the tire in place while prying. use soapy water to help the tire slip off, a spray bottle is handy.

remove and inspect/clean the valve stem and mating surface. if the rubber is cracked, get a new stem before installing the new tire. you don't want to have to do this all over again because of a leaky valve seal!

clean the grunge off the sealing surface of the rim with a wire brush.

install the new tire pointing in the right direction, there will be an arrow on the side wall. use the rim protectors and soapy water again. line up the dot (or splotch) with the valve stem, it will help with balancing.

spritz some soapy water (not too much, you don't want water inside the tire) on the sealing surface and inflate the tire to slip the bead into place and if it pops in, inflate to full 35 psi, otherwise adjust and try again.

then balance. some tires/rims may be roughly balanced already, others not so much and may vibrate at high speeds if counter weights are not added. i have the balancer (the longer axle one) from www.marcparnes.com and can vouch that it works perfectly. it's the only one i've used but others claim it's much more sensitive/accurate than others. either way it's worth every penny IMO.

you can also buy stick-on weights with the balancer but i prefer the clip-on kind, i think chacal has them.

when you go for your first ride on the new tires, take it a little easy, let them settle in before really tearing around. monitor the pressure for a number of days, sometimes a slow leak can be cured by tightening the valve stem slightly if it's not bead-related.

lol i didn't mean this post to be this long, have fun!

cheers,

Trev

 

All this is really helping I went out to do my rear first but I wasn't sure how to remove the wheel from the shaft hub. I got the axle out, brake rotor was un bolted but I wasnt sure what bolt to remove from the shaft side of the bike.

 

there's no bolt holding in on the shaft hub. lift up just a little bit and to the right at the same time. It'll slide out.

 

Theres a reason I didnt want to just start removing bolts..lol
I'll go out and give it a try. What's the link to chacals wep page?
I'm looking for front brake pads and weights for the balancing.

 

yeah you should be able to just pull the wheel off the final drive, it couldn't hurt to clean up the splines and regrease (i prefer mobil1 synthetic) after you get the tire changed.

btw, click the ad on the top right of this site to get to chacal's parts catalog.

cheers,

Trev

 

tibor you run mobil 1 gear oil back there?

I've got some Lucas 75/140 in mine because I had the bottles around when I did the fluid change. It's what I run in my Jeep for the oversize tires. If you use that make sure it's warm or have alot of free time on your hands to let those bottles drain.

I can't say it makes any difference on the bike I've got nothing to compare it with. On the Jeep the diffs are definiately cooler to the touch after good long runs and when changing the fluid the whole ring gear is still coated in oil top to bottom.

 

hey win, i was referring to the grease i use on the splines between the wheel and the final drive but now that you mention it, i think i probably do run mobil1 synthetic for the final drive too!

i've heard the lucas stuff is good too, out of curiosity i did a quick search for a comparison of the two and scored a Gear Oil Study!

also check out this Motorcycle Oil Comparison.

i have a feeling somehow that amsoil funded these studies...

ps sorry for the hijack!

cheers,

Trev

 

I've been happy with the lucas stuff. For oils/fluids I try to go with what I know and meets the requirements of the application. I also try to keep the tpyes of fluids to a minimum so I'll have some on hand if needed.

 

All done tires are perfectly balanced and already on my bike.
My shoes were in good condition so I dint have to replace those but I do have to replace my brake pads. Already ordered.
Thanks for all the tips guys. Quick question.
Is it normal for the brake pads to wear uneven? I read something about it happening to someone else around here.

 

uneven wear may be a sign that the caliper is not moving freely on the rotor. if it isn't free to move it can't apply equal pressure to both sides. do an inspection on the caliper when you replace the pads. if the moving parts are dry, lube them with synthetic or silicone grease. if the moving parts are also pitting, sand them smooth and lube before reassembly (being careful not to get grease on the braking surfaces!).

cheers,

Trev

 

Are there any oil seals on the rear wheel / driveshaft that one needs to consider before removing the rear wheel?

 

Erman, not for wheel removal. There is the drive shaft has a seal keeping gear oil in there and another between the splines and the bevel gear so the rear wheel just mounts up on the splines.

To add one little item to Tibor's list. Help setting the bead. Either hold the tire upright between your legs and bounce it on the ground, rotate, repeat to smoosh the tire's bead edges toward the outside OR wrap a ratcheting tie-down strap around the circumference of the tire and clamp it down to achieve the same effect.