How to remove and reinstall your rear wheel

[WingAdmin]

Your rear wheel needs to be removed in order to replace the bearings, have the tire replaced, to replace the brake rotors, or balance the wheel. It is a fairly simple procedure that can be done with simple tools.


Removing the wheel

1. Before starting, make sure you bleed all the air out of the rear shocks (if you have air shocks). Remove the seat and left saddlebag. Instructions on removing the seat can be found here, and on removing the bag can be found here. Careful to disconnect the turn signal wire (on top of the rear fender before pulling the bag away.



2. Remove the two bolts on either side of the rear fender. Remove the two bolts on the underside (dirty side!) of the rear fender.



3. Lift up the license plate, and remove the last bolt holding the rear fender piece in place. Remove the rear fender piece.



4. Remove the bolt holding the left shock absorber to the swingarm.

Note: If your motorcycle has pneumatic (air) suspension, make sure that you have evacuated the air from the shock absorber before attempting to remove it! Hold the "release" button down for the rear shocks until all the air has been removed.



5. Remove the nut and washers holding the right shock absorber to the rear drive.



6. Pull the rear shock absorber to the rear and up out of the way, and secure it to the crash bar to keep it out of your way.



7. Drive two 2 inch boards under the rear wheel to lift it up. Make sure you don't push the motorcycle off the center stand while doing so! It's probably a good idea to have someone hold the front brake on while you do this.



8. When the wheel has been lifted high enough, the axle will clear the top of the exhaust.



9. Pull the cotter pin out of the axle on the right side of the wheel. Note: the pin shown in this picture is not original equipment - the OEM pin is a regular cotter pin that is fed through and has the ends bent over manually.

Note: Starting in 1983, the castle nut and cotter pin was replaced with a self-locking nut.



10. Remove the axle nut from the right side of the wheel.



11. Remove the pinch nut on the end of the swingarm on the left side of the wheel.



12. Loosen, but do not remove the three nuts securing the driveshaft to the rear drive.



13. Put some wood or other material in between the swingarm and the crash bar on the left side. This is to prevent the swingarm from being pushed to the left while driving out the axle. Allowing the swingarm to be pushed left could damage it. On 1980 and 1981 GL1100's, a flat washer is used instead of this spacer.



14. Drive the axle out from the right side of the wheel. In this picture, I am using a 3/4" diameter 6 inch steel bolt, that I purchased to remove the bearings from the wheel.



15. Once the axle comes free, pull it the remainder of the way out the left side of the bike. Do not allow it to fall on the floor! Put the axle on something soft where it will not pick up grit or dirt.



17. Remove the outer axle spacer from between the swingarm and the caliper bracket.



18. Remove the caliper bolt (below the "Honda" on the caliper) and then remove the caliper pin, as shown.



19. Remove the screw fastening the rotor cover to the caliper and remove the rotor cover.



20. Pull the caliper up and off of the rotor, then secure it to the frame of the bike, up out of the way. Do not allow it to dangle by the brake hose.



21. Remove the three nuts holding the rear drive to the driveshaft.



22. Pull the caliper bracket towards the rear of the motorcycle, and remove the inner axle spacer from between the caliper bracket and the wheel hub.



23. Remove the cotter pin from the caliper bracket mounting bolt.



24. Remove the castle nut from the caliper bracket mounting bolt, and remove the bolt.



25. Remove the caliper bracket.



26. Pull the wheel to the rear of the motorcycle, supporting the rear drive as you do.



27. Allow the rear drive to pull out of the driveshaft, but do not allow it to swing downwards!



28. Keep the rear drive level, or the rear drive oil could spill out of the vent.



29. Gently pull the rear drive away from the wheel.



30. Now is a good time to replace the rear drive gear oil. Remove the drain bolt from the bottom of the rear drive, and allow the drive to drain into an oil pan.



31. While it is draining, clean all the grease from the spline on the rear drive.



32. Brake cleaner works well to remove the old grease from the spline.



33. Also clean grease from the inner hub of the wheel.



34. Loosen and remove the brake rotor retaining nuts.



35. Remove the brake rotor. Place the rotor on something soft, where it won't be damaged.



36. Remove the spline drive from the wheel - it just pulls out. Clean any residual grease out of the spline teeth.



37. The ONLY grease that should be used on the spline is genuine Moly 60 paste. Regular grease will be slung off the spline as it spins, leaving it unlubricated, and causing unrepairable wear. Do NOT cut corners here - use only the proper Moly paste!



**NOTE: Honda has discontinued the original Moly 60 paste shown above, and replaced it with high-Moly M-77 paste:

M-77 Paste

38. Coat the inside of the wheel spline liberally with Moly 60. Ensure it gets down into the teeth.



39. Coat the slider pins as well.



40. Slide the spline drive back into the wheel.



41. Coat the spline on the rear drive with Moly 60, ensuring all the teeth are fully coated.




Reinstalling the wheel

1. Before reinstalling the rear drive, reinstall the brake rotor. Snug the nuts, skipping every other nut: There are five nuts. Looking at the nuts clockwise, tighten #1, then #3, then #5, then #2, then #4.



2. Torque the nuts, in the same pattern, to 22 ft-lb.



3. Slide the final drive into the wheel, ensuring the splines meet up.



4. Coat the final drive shaft in Moly or grease.



5. Roll the wheel forward so that the driveshaft engages the final drive shaft.



6. Install the three final drive nuts finger-tight.



7. Make sure you have wood under the wheel to lift it to the correct height so that the hub of the wheel lines up with the swingarm.



8. Insert the inner axle spacer into the wheel hub.



9. Remove the sleeve from the caliper bracket, clean, and lubricate the outside of it with grease before reinserting it into the caliper bracket.



10. Lubricate the non-threaded portion of the caliper bracket bolt with grease.



11. Position the caliper bracket over the rotor, insert the bolt to hold it in its bracket, and tighten the castle nut. Insert the cotter pin through the bolt.



12. Spread the swingarm pinch with a screwdriver.



13. Place the outer axle spacer in between the caliper bracket and the swingarm.



14. Clean the axle, and apply a light coating of grease.



15. From the left side of the motorcycle, drive the axle through the swingarm, through the wheel hub, and out the final drive on the right side.



16. Insert a screwdriver into the hole in the axle end on the left side of the motorcycle. This is how you will keep the axle from rotating as the axle nut is fastened.



17. Screw the axle nut onto the axle.



18. Torque the axle nut to 65 ft-lb for 1980-1982, and 69 ft-lb for 1983 models.



19. Install the cotter pin. Note: the pin shown in this picture is not original equipment - the OEM pin is a regular cotter pin that is fed through and has the ends bent over manually.

Note: Starting in 1983, the castle nut and cotter pin was replaced with a self-locking nut.



20. Clean both sides of the brake rotor with brake cleaner.



21. Coat the non-threaded portions of the caliper bolt and the caliper slider bolt with grease.



22. Slide the caliper onto the caliper bracket and install the bolts. Torque the caliper pivot bolt to 13 ft-lb for 1980-1981, and 17 ft-lb for 1982-1983 models. Torque the caliper bolt to 22 ft-lb. Install the rotor cover and screw it into place.



23. Install the pinch bolt and torque it to 19 ft-lb.



24. Torque the driveshaft nuts to 29 ft-lb.



25. Pump grease into the driveshaft joint grease fitting.



26. If the final drive oil was drained during removal, it must now be refilled. Use 75W-90 hypoid gear oil.



27. Remove the fill port on the final drive.



28. Fill the final drive with the gear oil.



29. The final drive is full when the gear oil begins to run back out the fill port.



30. Place the right shock absorber back over the stud on the final drive.



31. Fasten the shock absorber to the final drive. The washer goes on first, followed by the lockwasher, followed by the acorn nut.



32. Torque the nut to 25 ft-lb.



33. Bolt the left shock absorber to the swingarm, and torque the bolt to 25 ft-lb.



34. Reinstall the rear fender.



35. Reinstall the saddlebags.

[ourgangmn]

Thank you! I was crawling around on the ground next to my bike wondering how in the world I was going to get my rear wheel off for a badly needed tire change. (Mine has the accessory light bar to remove as well.) Took me about 2 hours, but hey, it's off and now I can go join the rest of my family at the campground while my 'Wing gets some new rear rubber next week.

[WingAdmin]

Glad to hear you got it off and sorted! It's great to know that my experiences here have been able to help people!

[Anon]

It's great to know that my experiences here have been able to help people!

I'll say! While the owner's manual cover the wheel removal, the pics and details are pretty lame. But your write-up made things go smoothly for me. Thank You!

One question, though. Why did you remove the rotor? To show that step for people who are in there doing rotor work? When I read it, I thought I needed to take the rotor off to access something else (I was just doing a tire-change).

[WingAdmin]

I'll say! While the owner's manual cover the wheel removal, the pics and details are pretty lame. But your write-up made things go smoothly for me. Thank You!

One question, though. Why did you remove the rotor? To show that step for people who are in there doing rotor work? When I read it, I thought I needed to take the rotor off to access something else (I was just doing a tire-change).

A lot of the write-ups were written as part of a larger process that I was doing, and I separated them into smaller parts, so yes, you'll see in places where parts were removed where they might not necessarily need to be done. In this case, I believe I was changing the bearings in the wheel, and did not want to damage the (very expensive to replace) rotor while bashing the bearings out, so I removed the rotor.

[torcon6]

great article it helped me a lot thank's. I woudn't have done with out it

[cbeane]

Only thing better would had been if somebody did it for me.

[ramdam1]

Great post but I have a question. I did not have an outer axle spacer but did not notice it until I had the axle out so I did not notice if there gap. There is no way I could have missed soemthing that big. When I went to put it back together there is a space where your axle spacer is shown in your pictures. That is when it hit me. The rotor cover was also missing and so was the colar for the caliber bracket. My guess is the PO lost some pieces. I found those in the parts list but can not find any parts listing for the axle spacer on any parts list. Can you tell me where I can get a parts list for it so I can order one? I have a 1981 Interstate.

[WingAdmin]

Not 100% sure if this will help, but I think you might be talking about item 3?

[ramdam1]

Thanks. I have that one it was the outer spacer I was looking for. I looked and just found it. It on the rear brake page and is really just a large washer spacer on the 1981. Seems like many places I looked on EBay for a rear axle have it mixed up. The large spacer like you have started on the 1982 when they changed the brakes to a two piston system. The 1981 has a single piston and a thinner spacer. Thanks much again for all the great posts and corresspondance. It is beyound help!! The best!!

[WingAdmin]

Here are some pictures of splines that were not lubricated correctly with Moly 60 paste. They wore severely until the slop in the driveline caused it to actually skip and spin inside the wheel. Notice how the splines are no longer rectangular in shape, and are worn into points:

[Ray Aube]

I recently had my tires changed on my '84 Aspencade at a Harley bike shop and they removed the rear wheel without taking the saddlebag or fender off. The let the shocks go, removed the caliper bracket and jacked the bike up until the axle cleared the top of the exhaust. They let the air out of the tire in order to angle it and get it out. Reinstallation in reverse. While this worked in a bike shop, I wouldn't recommend it at home unless you have a lift that you can strap the fork to in order to keep the bike upright while jacking it up and down.

[idjit]

So when if I see wear like this, would I expect the flange on the wheel to be in need of replacement too? Or is it only the drive that tends to wear. I had my bike in to get it checked and lubricated and they said the final drive is quite worn, but she said the mechanic didn't note any issue with the flange. That's all I could get out of them. I don't want to take this apart twice.

BTW, any recommendation where to get the parts?

[WingAdmin]

So when if I see wear like this, would I expect the flange on the wheel to be in need of replacement too? Or is it only the drive that tends to wear. I had my bike in to get it checked and lubricated and they said the final drive is quite worn, but she said the mechanic didn't note any issue with the flange. That's all I could get out of them. I don't want to take this apart twice.

BTW, any recommendation where to get the parts?

Yes, they will both wear equally. In the pictures shown, the first one (the male side) is from the wheel hub, the second picture (the female side) is the final drive.

They haven't been available as new replacement parts for quite a while - if yours is worn, you have to find a bike breaker who is parting out a bike, or find a "new to you" part online.

[idjit]

Mike at "usedgoldwingparts.com" says he's fussy about what he sells and tosses the junk. He said his drives are good condition and are from well maintained low mileage bikes. I felt assured so I've ordered from him. I ordered the flange too. I'll let the forum know the condition when they arrive.

Thanks, WingAdmin. -Bob

[idjit]

Well, I got my rear drive and flange about a week or two ago. That's normal shipping time to Canada, cause of clearing customs. I'd say they are in excellent shape. The drive, 90-95% and the flange probably 80-85%. "Lots of meat left on them", as he put it. My rear tire is in great shape and I'm sure the drive I have will outlast the tire so I won't be installing it right away. I mollied it up good!!

When I do replace it, I plan to take my old drive and flange to a local and very qualified machine shop to hear what they have to say about renewing it. When the day comes, I'll fill you in. I don't see why these couldn't be re-manufactured and tempered properly by qualified people. Maybe I'll drop by with these ones beforehand to see what they say. -Bob

[WingAdmin]

I don't know about remanufacturing them - they are machined out of a solid steel billet, and when they get worn, that steel gets worn away. They'd have to find a way of adding steel back to it and re-machining it - and doing it with weld won't work. The only thing I could think of doing would be to design a sleeve that would fit into the original place - but that's going to be a tremendous amount of work to do.

[idjit]

Well I went on EBAY and found a flange that looks a lot better. As I mentioned the one sent was not as good as the drive he sent. At 80-85% it was also tapered. What I mean is all teeth were worn more on one end than the other. Than kinda lowers the percentages since I was looking at the good end. The drive he sent was really good and I don't want to mate it with something that was going to contact at one end only. So, I decided I don't want to use it. I should have taken advantage of his 7 day inspection time frame. I'm not saying not to buy from this guy, as he did have a very good drive, but I'd ask for pics next time. Hope this helps others.

I still plan to check out the rebuild idea. WingAdmin mentioned maybe a sleeve could be machined and I know these people can do just about anything,

[tonyincny]

Just a couple of things.

First, I hope the Lord has an express lane for you to get to heaven. Your DIY articles are so wonderfully written with great photos AND THEY ARE FREE. That should definitely get you into heaven.

Second, do you plan on collecting all these articles and photos and publishing them into a large (8.5" x 11") book? I would definitely buy one regardless of the cost.

Third, just to clarify in this article, you first mention using the Moly60 paste on all the internal parts and gear teeth etc. Later, you talk about greasing the last few parts being assembled such as the axle and spacers etc. Are you still using the Moly60 paste or some other grease?

Thanks a bunch for all your work,
Tony

[WingAdmin]

Well thanks for that.

I don't know if book publishing is in the plans ...that said, I have kept all the high-resolution versions of the photos, just in case I do use them in the future for anything.

As for the grease: Moly grease is unique in that it is not "flung" off the drive at high RPM. It's much more viscous than regular grease, much like a paste, so that it stays in place, among other things.

For the brake pivots, axle, U-joint and other items that don't require it, I use regular quality high-temperature grease. High-temperature grease is important especially around the brake caliper, as it can get quite hot during use.

[tonyincny]

Thanks for clarifying.

[bigphillip79]

Would this all be the same for a GL1000?

[WingAdmin]

A lot of it will be the same, but not everything - particularly because there are different wheels for the GL1000 (spoked, tubed/tubeless, etc).

[emt613]

Just changed my rear tire on a 83 ASPY. Following your steps here was a great way to do it. I now have a question though. This is my first experience with a shaft drive bike. Is there a need to check alignment of the rear tire as you do on a chain drive ?????????

[WingAdmin]

Just changed my rear tire on a 83 ASPY. Following your steps here was a great way to do it. I now have a question though. This is my first experience with a shaft drive bike. Is there a need to check alignment of the rear tire as you do on a chain drive ?????????

No. On a chain drive bike, you have to be able to adjust the position of the rear wheel in order to take up slack in the chain as it stretches. Because each side of the wheel can be adjusted independently, it's important to make sure the wheel is aligned after adjusting it.

On a shaft drive bike, no such adjustment is necessary or possible. The axle is fixed in place in the swingarm, and the alignment of the wheel cannot be adjusted or changed.