Removing the Rear Wheel of Your Motorcycle

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Removing the Rear Wheel of Your Motorcycle

Anybody can do work on their own bike. You just have to be willing to get a little dirty.

Learning a few basic skills for maintaining your motorcycle will end up saving you a ton of money. As we all know, mechanics will jump on every opportunity to capitalize on anything, especially if a bike owner doesn’t understand exactly what’s going on. One of the most important skills a bike owner can have is knowing how to remove the rear wheel of his motorcycle. This will help make changing tires and simple upkeep a whole lot easier.

Removing the rear wheel of your motorcycle comes down to a few basic steps.

1. Remove the Huggers

The first step to the process is removing the bolts that hold the huggers in place. Usually, there are 3 or more bolts in place that need to be removed. Also, unscrew any other impediment that may be specific to your particular bike.

2. Remove the Brakes

There are two types of brake systems that are found on a motorcycle: drum brakes and disc brakes. For the drum brakes, unscrew the cabling or any other link that connects them to the main controls.

For the disc brakes, unscrew the caliper and detach it from the disc. Gently pull the disc brakes away and secure it with a cable tie, so there is no stress being placed on the brake hoses.

Identifying the swing arm style of your bike will go a long way in removing the rear wheel.

3. Loosen the Axle

This will be different for every type of bike owner. If your bike has a single sided swing arm, remove the bolt and loosen the axle.

If your bike has a double sided swing arm, you need to secure the sprockets on both sides of the swing arm and simultaneously loosen the bolt.

4. Lift the Bike

Be careful when lifting your bike; you don’t want anyone getting hurt, and you definitely don’t want the bike to get damaged. Without tools, this is a job that requires more than one person. However, to make this job simpler, bikers may want to consider picking up a paddock stand to lift the bike up.

5. Remove the Axle

Using a paddock stand will help make the entire process go smoothly.

The final step is to fully twist off the axle bolt. To pull the axle off of the swing arm, you may need to tap the axle with a rubber mallet to jar it loose. When it comes loose, make sure to collect the brake mount and any spacers that may fall free.

At this point, the wheel should drop to the floor, and any maintenance that you need to do can now happen. Knowing this skill is important for any biker because it will help him to save a bunch of money.

By: Tim Snyder

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