Front and Rear Wheel Removal - Big Deal?

I'm trying to save myself a few bucks and a lot of inconvenience by taking my wheels in for new skins rather than leave the bike all day.

Am I better off to just take the bike in and let the dealer look after the wheel removals or is this task farily straight forward and can be accomplished without the need of a torque wrench?

Thanks!

 

not a big deal, put bike on centerstand and car jack under exhust.
my jack drops over time so I put front axle back in and use a jackstand under the front axle untill wheels are back on.
after riding for about 25 miles or so ck rear lugs again.

 

Shadowrider look in your manual. It should explains what to do.

02 VFR: Thanks for the tip. I just removed both of mine for a tire change.

Always block a floor jack or use jack stands. The latter being the preferred safe way. Remember to reapply the loctite.

Reg

 

You don't need a torque wrench for removal, but one would be really advisable for the install.

 

Having just done the front wheel today, I can tell you the torque specs on the caliper, pinch bolts, and axle bolt are all far less than you might expect. If you just tighten them good and tight you will be overdoing it by a very wide margin. Remember, most of these bolts thread into aluminum, so over tightening them even just a little can get really annoying and expensive very quickly.

You can borrow a torque wrench from NAPA or Autozone, or others. You just put down a deposit on it, and you get the whole deposit back within 90 days. You can look up their loan-a-tool inventories online. They have quite a bit of stuff.

 

You really want to save $$. Change the tires your self. A set of spoons will be less than one tire install cost typically.

 

You also need a tire balancer. I did entertain the idea of buying equipment to change tires myself and even did it once with just spoons. But what a pain in the ass and just my opinion it wasn't worth all the struggling just to save 25 bucks.

 

Well, depending how much you ride those costs will add up. I've burned through 3 rear tires and two fronts already this year

 

There are several youtube vids on removing wheels, here is one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfGqMdLqfH4

After watching a few of these vids, I removed both wheels in less than 10 minutes. I used the center stand and a cycle jack under the pipes, just as stated above. I'll have to say it's well worth the cost for the piece of mind with a torque wrench. Harbor Freight has them on sale every few months for $10.

 

I've done it using similar methods as suggested above.........and I have never used a torque wrench when installing the wheels back on the bike.

 

I use a torque wrench simply because I have several on hand. But it's never a bad idea, especially when threading into aluminum, like Haygood says.

The Harbor Freight tire changer is a decent enough tire changer for not a lot of change. Har. If you only do the occasional tire, it's good bang for the buck. I'd pay to have somebody do it before I'd mess with tire irons/spoons. It's not worth the aggravation and skinned knuckles for me. I just couldn't get the hang of it.

 

Thats how I get both wheels off the ground, if you wana take it a step further regarding dismounting tyres and breaking the bead etc, go to the Aerostich catalog as they have some nice bead breakers and a nice looking wheel balancer. I use other peoples machines to do my chit, but did have to pay to have the single sided swing arm wheel balanced, think it was $12.00, kinda high but what you gona do? Cheers oh btw there is a company called GenMar that seems to have a nice manual machine that ties into your trailor reciever on your car/truck

 

Did you mean NoMar, rather than GenMar? I thought GenMar just made bar risers.

I bought a NoMar tire changer about a year or so ago and haven't looked back. The initial investment was bite for sure, but I've actually have made some money back with it. A few local OC riders will come by from time to time and use the machine and leave me some $. It's cheaper for them and it helps pay for itself!

Btw, you can get a front MC stand from Cycle Gear for ~$40. It tucks under the fork legs and lifts the front end right up. You can use it in conjunction with your center stand and get both ends off the ground.

Oh yeah, it's ok to not use a torque wrench, just stay away from torque hammers!

 

I really don't like to see people threading things into aluminum without a torque wrench. The tendancy is already for people to overtorque stuff, and when aluminum is involved, the torque specs are far lower than most would imagine.

I have a No Mar. I have the version that bolts to the floor. It has trouble with big low-profile car tires like you find stock on an Audi, for example. I haven't used it for MC tires, yet, but I'd imagine it does well with that. We haven't got ours paid for yet, by a long shot.